After Christmas shopping

I have had a busy last few days, so I am sorry I haven't said much more on my blog. One of the best parts of the Christmas season is After Christmas Shopping! That's when you get to take the gift cards and various monetary gifts received over the holiday and go cash them in for those items you have been eying in the store windows! The best places to go shopping after Christmas are the bigger chain stores across the nation, and the best places to hit those in one go are the malls.

Judy and I went to the Haywood Mall the other day because my number one goal was to pickup some discount Christmas CDs from the FYE store near the mall foodcourt. If you are big into Christmas CDs, that is a good place to stretch your dollars and really get a good selection of stuff for sale after the holiday clearance sale. I got a manheim steamroller cd and some older compilation best ofs, which maybe i will have time to review later.

I also went to gamestop where I bought some historical games for my ps2 that looked good and a couple of nintendoDS games that were neat. Judy spent a lot of time sitting in the massger chair at the brook stone before i realized she had fallen asleep.

The best part about the mall is without a doubt the foodcourt! Nowhere else can you find so much food in one place. It is hard to decide between pizza and burgers and chinese food, or whether you should just get a big cookie! I walked around and tried samples, but settled with a big mac because that was what i was craving. Judy got a big raisin pretzel from the pretzel place and then got a stomach aich and then had to go to the restrooms for the rest of our stay at the mall.

While i waited for Judy, I walked into the place called Spencer's Gift's and had to leave very abruptly. They have some things in that store that are very lewd and embarasing! I almost think that they should make sure you are not too young before walking in! I was shocked!

Does anyone else have any good mall stories?

Merry Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm sure you could tell all ready, but Christmas is my favorite time of the year. For me, Christmas and winter are the same thing. It goes Spring, Summer, Autum, Christmas for me! I listens to Christmas music and try to keep the cheer up until St. Patrick's Day. I drink hot coco and eat gingerbreads, stow away some candy canes to last out the season. If you haven't done this, you really should try it, its great, it makes the whole year much more festive.

One of the biggest things about Christmase for a lot of people is Santa Clause. Spoiler alert: I have nver belived in Santa CLause becase i was never tild he was real . but I have never been so such a rude peerson that I Would ever disrupt someone else's believes. Some people just are so rude about Christmas and peoples/kids enjoyment of Santa Clause that they try to take the season and really just make it garbage for some people. 

The other day, I was in taco bell with Judy to get a couple of gorditas for a late lunch, and some potato wedges from the K.F.C. that was in the same building. When we sat down, I overheard a man saying "Santa Clause isn't real" among other things i didn't hear, but it was very loud and there were children around.

I went over to his table and told him he should be respetful of other peoples beliefs espececially children! He apologized and told everyone the truth that Santa was real Spoiler alert: I don't believe ins Santai was just sagying that to make sure not to make spoilers. Actually, that didn't happen, but i really thought about it. If your reading now, shame on you for being so loud and rude to the happy believes of others!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS (for those who dont celebrate christmas)!

Christmas eve eve

Its the day before the day before Christmas or as i have decided to call it Christmas eve eve! The holiday season is in full swing at this point, and lights and wreeths are hung on every house with the right amount of holiday spirit. Unfrotunately, in South Carolina, there is rarely enough snow  to make a snow man of acceptible quality, so i just have to enjoy the depictions of snow men in the media.

Tomorrow is Christmas eve, and the funny thing about that is that it has been the source of some significant humor in my life in the past. When i was younger,I thought that christmas eve was the character from the bible chapter "Adam and Eve." I had a couple of laughs with my friends in school at my expense when we uncovered that i was all mixed up about this.

I also used to confuse the popular american patriotic song "Amazing Grace" as being a story about an amazing woman (or man) named Grace. I have sense learned that it is about being thankful for good luck in life. I never really listened to the words!

For those sci-fi geeks out there )like me!) you will like this one, I also used to get Star Trek and Star Wars confused. This has sense been corrected, because having seen all of the Star Trek movies and most of the Star Wars movies (eipsodes 1 and 2 are what i saw), I don't get them confused at all. I much prefer the more realistic space travel and sci-fi elements of Star Trek. Star Wars has a lot of really funny characters like R2d2 and the jar jar, but Star Trek has really cool aliens and is just more authentic.

Are there any great Christmas misunderstandings that you have had?

Toys

Sorry for the downer the other day. I figured I'd do something a little lighter this time. My online blog cannot be only about my hardships and the deeper questions of lief, so this week I want to talk about something that everyone loves. Toys!

The Christmas season is only beginning, and all of the christmas themed images and murals around the world seems to show pictures of santa clause and toys. So, in some ways, Christmas and toys are kind of synonmous. Everyone wants toys for Christmas, wether that toy is a stuffed kaola bear or a shaving kit. So, in honor of the season, i figured i would list my favorite 5 toys ever.

1. Stretch Armstong
   I know this is going to be a favorite for many of you, but that doesn't mean i can just leave it off my list to come up with something beigger and better. Stretch armstrong could stretch really far and provided hours of stretching fun, and I hope they make it into a movie like I think they have been planning to do.
2. Mighty Max tangles with the ape king toy set
   I really used to enjoy the detailed artistic effort put into the miniature sized Mighty Max toys, but this one was my favorite of them all. I spent so many hours tangling with the ape king to really use the toy to its fullest. I have always felt that its best to use a toy for what it was inteded for, and this playset made that very easy with its clear plot.
3. Gumball machine
   This is not exactly a toy in the same sense as the other two, but i got a gumball machine for easter that I used to use to give my other action figures bowling balls and things like that. Gumballs are great for being round toys, and the best part is that they are a sweet treat. That is why it made number 3.
4. Yak Bak
   This was a revolutionary technology toy. I never actually had one but you could play with it in the store so i used to sit in the aisle for hours talking to it and having it "yak bak to me. If you are confused, the name of the toy is a wordplay that describes the function of the toy, which is to repeat what you say. If it werent for the yak bak, i bet we wouldnt have those christmas cards you can record your voices into. or build-a-bear.
5. Bubbles
   I know its a bit unconvetional, but as my grandmother used to say, old toys are still good toys. I used to love blowing bubbles into the yard and popping them or catching them on my tongue. They werent number one because unlike the other toys on the list, this one runs out much faster. you always have to buy more.

Looking at my list, it turns out that non e of my toys were given to me for Christmas. So maybe christmas toys aren't the only toys we remember after all. I have some runnerups but i will add those later.

What was your favorite childhood toy?

Big choices

Would you rather die rich or happy?

That is a hard question to answer, but one I have been thinking about all night and morning. We're all going to die, right? And many of us are going to try to get rich in the process, because that is how you make a living. Writers and TV stars make a lot of money. But are they happy?

I have been back and forth on this for the last few hours, because I can see both sides of the argument. If you are rich, you can do whatever you want, but at what cost? If you are happy, it may be harder to get by amd you may not have everything you want but at least you are happy. If you are rich you are not happy, i think. So i suppose I would rather die happy.

I know this is a heavy topic, but good art can be uncomfortable. and it can make you answer hard questions.

If you were curious, I thought of this because Judy and I got in to an argument last night playing hasboro's game of life. We were at the end of a particularly long game and Judy was in a bad mood, so we discussed the pros and cons of Millionaire Estates vs.s Countryside Acres. I picked Millionaire Estates, but next time I play, I will think a little more carefully before choosing.

What about you? Would you rather die rich or happy? You doen't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.

Apology

I'm sorry, granmda.

The other day I wrote about a fight i had with my grandmother when i was very upset. I was just venting to my online community like I am used to doing with lifejournal, but i forgot that blogger doesn't have the same kind of privacy controls, and she got to read what i wrote.

I think that the internet should be free for speech of all kinds, we talked about it, and she pointed out that although that is true, what I was doing was libal.

I didn't think that i was doing libal, so i am sorry i wrote all of that about my grandma when our family and friends could read it in the open. I was just upset, and i wasn't thinking before i wrote. 

I will try to keep his posts free of any future libal.

Being an adult.

I am upset and almost mad. My grandmother and I were having some microwaveable Healthy Choice meals while watching Wheal of Fortune last night. I was a bit grumpy, because she wouldn't let me just get a Kid Cuisine for the brownie, and started saying I was too grown up for that kind of thing. I tried to ignore my upset feeling but she was just pushing my buttons she sometimes does.

She asked me if I could have anything for Christmas, what I would what to have? I said I wanted to have a tablet computer, since those seem to be where the future is headed, but then i said I would be fine with having my own computer that wasn't a tablet if that is better or cheaper (we share a computer).

Then, my grandmother started just being very rude and saying that I needed to grow up and buy things for myself. She said a lot of things that were hurtful, but I don't want to repeat them here because that will just make things worst.

My grandmother makes me very upset sometimes, and I just have to go for walks around the neighborhood or go hit things in the yard to calm myself down. This time i just don't understand where she is coming from,because she asked me about my christmas wishlist and i just answered. 

I still think she is being very unreasonable, and am not happy.
 
Please comment if you have similar problems with your parents or family members that you would like to share.

ELF movie review

I thought this movie was pretty good (8/10 stars), but I know my audience will like a good analysis of what happened, so here we go...

Will Ferrell makes a convincing debut as a christmas elf who becomes embroiled in human affairs. This is a clever situation and most of the humor flows naturally out of it. That's not to say that there aren't a few tearjerker moments from the cultural differences between elves and men (and elves and women). Good for kids but I think parents will also appreciate some of the more subtle humor.

One character says: "What the ______?" without saying a curse word but strongly implying it (always funny for the older crowd and mysterious for the younger kids, much better than flat-out saying the words, because those can be very upsetting).

I was thinking of maybe writing a movie script that brings the story of Frosty the Snowman into the 21st century, like he has some human problems or something (parents get divorced? has a low credit score?). I'd like to get Bill Murray to play Frosty because Will Ferrell might be too fresh and edgy.

I love watching the holiday movies when they come on TV every year. I sometimes forget what dvds we have, and it's nice to remember while seeing some seasonsal commercials in the middle.

What is your favorite holiday movie or comercial?

I ordered something on Amazon for Christmas and it hasn't come

I'm not sure what action to take. They predicted it would be here in 4-14 business days but that period of time has elapsed. It was a tin of sausage and cheese for my grandmother and I don't want to have to buy it again after she gets back from her next big trip. I was trying to get it early so I could give it to her before she left, but I don't know now what to do.

What would you?