Season of Giving
30 December 2004Most thought provoking christmas gifts I received:
1. Silicone pot holder, in my Christmas stocking at my mother’s house. Betcha didn’t even know that they made those, huh? It’s plastic and floppy and looks like a coaster. Apparently it was created so that, even if it gets tossed on to an open flame, it won’t burn down my apartment building and make Ely, our crazy landlord and (I’m convinced) head of the Jewish Mafia, upset at us before it’s time to renew the lease. (Note to self: Get renter’s insurance.)
2. Soundtrack to The Big Chill, Delux Edition, from Bud (big bro) to both Peej (little bro) and I. Not so much thought provoking as it is FREAKIN AWESOME. The Big Chill Soundtrack was the first CD to ever be owned by any member of my family so that– along with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Cher, and Willie Nelson, at the hands of my musically diverse parents– is basically the soundtrack for my entire childhood. And it has that song “The Weight” on it, which I have been playing constantly in my head since it showed up on that damn cell phone commercial. (You know that song– “take a load off, fanny/ take a load for free/ take a load off, fanny…” google it if the visual representation isn’t working for you). Bud intended for it to be shared, which clearly means, “Cristin, just take it back to new york without telling peej about it and then pretend not to know where it is when asked.”
3. 37 Part Lecture Series on The History of the English Language. Thanks, Dad! My father, the perpetual student, enjoys listening to academic lectures while driving in the car (mostly when he can’t find any Christian rock stations) and found this doozy from a Stanford professor while perusing his most recent “The Great Courses on Tape” catalog. That’s right– 18 cassette tapes, broken down into 30 minute lectures on exciting topics such as “The Great Vowel Shift” and “The Norman Contribution to English” (PS, who’s Norman?). I must have looked confused when I unwrapped it, cause Dad immediately jumped in with “You can listen to lectures on medieval literature while you’re at the gym!” Wha? Granted, I love medieval literature, but come on now. On the rare occasions when I manage to drag my ass away from Law & Order long enough to walk the 4 blocks to my gym, I already want to kill myself without the help of some 60 year old virgin from Stanford making jokes in middle english. Besides, the only thing that actually gets me going on the treadmill is a steady diet of “OPP” and “99 Problems.”
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