Posts Tagged ‘christmas’

Not much to report about yesterday — and yes, that means you won’t have to read 600 words today. I didn’t end up going out to lunch. I don’t think I would have been much fun, nor had much fun watching a bunch of people eat stuff like bread and pasta. In theory, I could have ordered a plain salad, maybe with just oil and vinegar, but … I think it was better I didn’t.

We also put up our Christmas tree last night, a ritual which would have normally been commemorated with egg nog, hot chocolate, liquor and cookies or whatever. But while the girls indulged in cocoa, I obviously abstained. The tree got put up just fine, but I really kind of feel like a dud.

Tomorrow should be interesting. At the Griffin in downtown Las Vegas, three of my old (heh, old) pals, Geoff Carter, Gregory Crosby and Dayvid Figler, are bringing back their infamous holiday-themed spoken word nonsense known as “Three Wise Guys” for one night only. All fine poets (some finer than others), Carter, Crosby and Figler performed as “Three Wise Guys” from 1995 to 1999, so this would make this the 10th anniversary of the final performance. It’s kind of a *thing* for us Vegas culturistas, especially because Carter and Crosby have lived in far-off lands (Seattle and New York, respectively) for quite a few years now. Allegedly, I’m to be emceeing this shindig, at a bar, without drinking. In the midst of Detox Week. So, that should be good, right? It all goes down at 7 p.m. if you want to come by. And you should. Hopefully I won’t feel like a dud then, too.

And that’s about that. My band may or may not be auditioning a new bass player this weekend, so you may hear about that. Or not. But you kids are here for the Detox Week madness, right? So let’s look at yesterday’s menu, shall we?

• Breakfast: 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 cup “Dynamo” juice blend
• Morning snack: 1 peanut butter cookie Larabar (nom nom nom)
• Lunch: 1 bowl homemade vegetable stew (all gone now)
• Throughout day: A few handfuls of raw sunflower meats
• Dinner: 1 can Amy’s Organic Lentil Vegetable soup (I can’t get enough!)
• Beverages: Water all day, plus about a few ounces each of Trader Joe’s “Green Protein” juice blend and Naked “Super Food” juice blend.

That was a pretty light day, looking back. I don’t expect today to be much heavier though. Tomorrow, I’m considering treating myself to a trip to Go Raw, a tasty vegan/raw cafe. Haven’t been there in a few years — it should be good.

Christmastime — or Hanukkah-time or whatever the hell quasi-religious reason you come up with to give and receive gifts as the northern hemisphere’s daylight wears down — is perhaps the greatest time of the year for the geek-minded. Especially in this, the seeming Age of Geek Cool (ushered in by our properly-elected leader, Barack “I read Spider-Man and Conan comics” Obama), the gift options are nearly endless, and if you have great friends and loved ones as I do, you may have found your Christmas morning/eighth night of Hanukkah/Kwanzaa dance of joy to be as memorable as the time you received the Jabba’s Palace playset from Return of the Jedi back in ’83*.

I figured I’d share some highlights from this year’s take, as this was possibly the first year I celebrated a right proper Christmas, beginning with a lovely, intimate gathering of strays at our house on Christmas Eve — where we enjoyed home-cooked food, light cocktails and gingerbread cookie decorating (I kid you not) — and ending with a sitting-on-the-floor-by-the-tannenbaum, wrapping paper-tearing celebration of awesomeness.

I typically don’t like to receive gifts, much preferring to give — both on holidays and throughout the year to various charitable organizations (including redirecting my so-called “stimulus check” to six different charities). But as I was a good gift-giver this year, I felt less guilty receiving. So now, for real, without further adieu, share with me in the goodies Santa left under the tree:

500 Essential Graphics Novels: The Ultimate Guide (by Gene Kannenberg, Jr.) – It is what it says it is. A guide to (subjectively) the best sequential art books ever published, categorized by genres and including both standalone volumes and those that collect works previously published in serial form. Like another reference volume I recently bought myself, The Supervillain Book, this sort of thing makes for great reading while eating.

Electronic Drum Kit Shirt (from ThinkGeek) – For anyone who hasn’t caught on yet, I play drums in a rock band. It’s not my first instrument (I guess that would be guitar, followed by keyboards), but it’s my favorite. And possibly my most comfortable, as I seem to always be drumming on whatever is within arm’s reach — steering wheel, table, lap, whatever. So it makes perfect sense that someone gave me this, a T-shirt rigged up with a fully playable picture of a drum set. When you tap on any of the seven active drum parts, a speaker unit hidden in an internal pocket blasts the respective drum sound. I am totally wearing this under all my clothes now. Here’s an awesome video demonstration:

Flip Mino Camcorder – Bleeding Neon pal and CineVegas web guru Roger Tinch turned me on to this overly simplified digital video camera (as he bought it for himself as an early Xmas present). It’s streamlined and sleek: Powers up in three seconds, runs for four hours per charge, shoots up to 60 minutes of video and plugs directly into either a computer (via USB) or a TV (via RCA connectors). Expect to see some terrible homemade videos captured with the Mino here soon. You poor suckers.

Lego Mindstorms NXT kit – Anyone who knows me should know I love robots. I have robot art all over my house, including a robot planter. I have a robot tattooed on my left arm. And now, thanks to my girlfriend who tirelessly supports my geek obsessions, I have the building blocks for intelligent robot design, courtesy of those crafty folks at Lego. To go one step further, she also grabbed for me Creating Cool Mindstorms NXT Robots, a book authored by a 24-year-old bastardgenius.

Now, Mindstorms claims to be made for ages 11 and up, but I’m telling you, this is some intimidating stuff, even right out of the box. I mean, I haven’t opened it yet, but it sure looks scary. However, I did flip through the accompanying book, which is even more frightening, apparently authored in some sort of alien techno-language or perhaps by a math professor. But I’m up to the challenge and expect to be creating peanut butter-serving, dog belly-rubbing, world-overthrowing robots any day now.

There were other goodies, of course, including a gift cardtoken to my local comic shop, 3-D notebook paper and random gift cards, but the aforementioned items are the pearls of the geek oyster. And as we know, I totally need more distractions from actually, you know, writing.

*Yes, I totally did get that Jabba set for either Christmas or a birthday back in ’83. It came with Jabba on his throne, which slid back to reveal the opening to the dungeon or whatever, as well as that annoying sidekick bird looking thing. Sadly, Slave Leia was sold separately.

I believe that section 293B, line 27 of the Bloggers Code requires all weblogs to denote each major holiday as recognized in the blogger’s country of origin with a holiday-themed post. Lest I be found in violation of the Code and receive a demerit or whatever, I’m going to fulfill my duties. But of course, I’m going to do it in a total slacker’s manner. So enjoy this terrible and not very funny video I made LAST Christmas. The most amusing thing to me is that it seems I have the same haircut and beard length on Christmas every year. Yeah, not amusing at all. Enjoy!

In the midst of trying (no, really!) to complete a freelance assignment for a client whose unstated deadline is surely approaching, I’m also feverishly customizing holiday cards (yes, way too late to arrive by Christmas but hopefully early enough to arrive before 2009) and … well, apparently being reminded As Yet Unbroken’s website needs updating.

At least this weekend hasn’t been a total wash. On Friday, I snuck away for a few hours to my nearby Starbucks and forced out four pages of layouts/script for this comic book project about which I am telling you nothing. I swear, I got something else done, though I’m not sure what, aside from waiting for the HVAC guy to get our heat working again. Today, one half of the band came over. We recorded bass and guitars for two new songs, and I tricked the guys into helping move furniture (they are easily bribed with liquor), so there’s that.

Frosty, you look so warm. Don't melt!

Friday night, the girlfriend and I went with a few friends to Opportunity Village’s Magical Forest. It’s a completely rad holiday set-up, with dazzling lighting displays donated, and created, by local businesses, a surprisingly sprawling and fun train ride, the requisite Santa photo opp, holiday gift shop and much more. The weather was quite chilly (for Vegas), but it was silly amounts of fun, and it was all for a good cause. And that good cause was me playing target practice with the unfortunate family who didn’t clear the lane on the giant slide upon which I was blazing Earthward like an ICBM. Hey, it was all in good fun, right? Right.

So while I’m possessed by the holiday spirit and whatnot, I figured I’d be nice and bring you some presents early. I’ve rounded up a few of the more eclectic holiday-themed songs I have sitting on my vast hard drive, and I’m presenting them here for your enjoyment and perusal. These links will surely expire within 30 days or self-destruct or something, so get ‘em while they’re hot. Or before the RIAA eviscerates their presence.

• Sufjan Stevens – “Get Behind Me Santa”
• Richard Cheese – “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
• Radiohead – “Winter Wonderland”

That’s all for now. I’ll save you the pain of recounting last night’s douchebaggery at McFadden’s inside the Rio. Let it just be said that if there is a hell, and I go there, it’s going to look a lot like McFadden’s on a Saturday night.