Happy Holidays everyone!

To further define irony, it snowed Christmas night, so I woke up to a white ground again on the 26th.

Christmas dinner went off well. And my grandparents had a good time, which is really the perfect Christmas present. Though my dad did have to bring plates over. D'oh! But at least after Christmas, I have silverware. That's an adult accomplishment, right?

So I've had a great day off work. I read a couple of books (well, I'm not done with the second yet). I watched a few movies (Brothers Grimm and The 40 Year Old Virgin.) I drank some wine (pinot grigio - and no, I don't like wine generally). I have candles lit (it's a combined smell of vanilla, black cherry and bluebery and is heavenly). And I'm currently watching Field of Dreams right now (my ultimate chicken soup movie - I love the concept of magic. And baseball.) Life is, simply put, perfect.

So I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. And that they are looking forward to New Years Eve celebrations.

Define irony.

I haven't seen the f'ing grass since the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's been covered by this white shit that just refuses to go away. Which is bad enough - I'm not one to goo how "pretty" the snow looks.

But now, on the eve of Christmas eve and Christmas eve, it gets unseasonably warm and - you guessed it - the snow is quickly melting. Which means there is more green than white. Looks like we won't have a white Christmas...

And I have learned that, if you decide to invite your grandparents, parents, and siblings over for Christmas dinner, make sure that you can actually PLAN a Christmas dinner. I don't have enough chairs for everoyne. Hell, I don't even have enough plates and bowls for everyone. (I do, however know I'll have enough utensils for everyone SOLELY because I know that I am getting a set of 12 for Christmas from my father.)

Dear Old Navy,
Why do you hate me? I understand that size 2 jeans are adorable. But the number of people who wear size 2 jeans, well, there aren't that many of them. That is why you have about 100 pairs of jeans left in size 2, and NO jeans left in size 8 or 10. All I wanted in life was a pair blue jeans to wear out tonight. Now, I must do laundry. You suck, Old Navy.

Who's the more fool, the fool or the fool who follows him?

When Bush talked about dictators in other countries attempting to silence dissent, did anyone else do a double take?? I shook my head so hard that I gave myself whiplash.

Bad day. Walking into work today, I have a gift bag. My friends and I are having a "Naughty or Nice" gift exchange this evening. The gift bag broke, and stuff spilled all over the floor. This was made worse by helpful people and some of the stuff IN the bag. For example, a partner helped me pick stuff up - and grabbed the box of condoms...

The downside to being a girl.

Not equal pay, having to carry

No, the downside is not buying your own drinks at the bar, but rather having the males you are with perpetually buy them.

Ok, so that's obviously not really a downside, but it sure makes it harder to keep track of how much you drink when you go out. So you think that you aren't drinking that much, and then in hindsight, you realize that no, you actually had way more than that.

That's not necessarily a good realization for a Saturday morning.

Playing soccer in 8 inches of snow is an experience. The ref actually had to take a shovel and was shovelling the snow off the field. (Just the sidelines so we could see out of bounds and the goal area). You can't dribble the ball, and it is unpredictable in how it moves and if it stays in bounds. The game involved a lot of falling, a lot of slipping, forgetting the ball, and totally missing it. Oh, and one or two snow angels. Granted, my toes were FREEZING by the end of the game, but still...

Soccer is not meant to be played in 8 inches of snow...but it sure makes it more fun to watch. I could not stop laughing. And there were two idiots in shorts. (One was my brother.)

And in the second half, the ref actually laced up and played on the other team. The funny part was that without him, they were winning. With him, we won scored 5 unanswered goals to win 7-4. (Though to be fair, that was less his fault and more that my team stopped laughing at each other.

But there were these cars that kept driving by, really slowly, every few minutes. And it was mostly the same cars. I am not sure if I should expect to see in the paper, "stupid white kids play soccer in snow" or if some drug dealers were getting a little pissy at us... Regardless, it freaked me out.

The Daily Show was quite funny today. Especially Jon Stewart's Christmas present to, well, likely all conservative religious freaks. Isn't he the giving sort?

I bought a new iPod, but getting my music on it is less than fun. It's exhausting, actually. Because the new iPod need different cables than the old one, and my work computer (where all my music is) doesn't have those capabilities. So...yeah, that kinds sucks. Granted, I know nothing about computers, so I bet there is an an easier (and lesss time consuming) way to get all this done. Seriously, I can put like 700 MB on one cd (which is tons of songs) and then copy them to my laptop, but then do I literally have to click on each one of those songs to open it in iTunes? I mean, hell, it's 5000 songs?? Though I guess at the end of the day, all I care about is my music. It's just taking FOREVER to get it. As for tomorrow, I shall have to deal with 500 songs (I have a seminar to attend.) And not all my REM are on there yet either. Yikes. It will obviously be a tough day. (And that's before I try to play soccer without cleats and shins - my brother was going to try to pick some up for me before tomorrow, but assuming he doesn't, I'm playing in several inches of snow in my indoor flats. Fun...

Oh, but my iPod is black. The other one was white. I'm more of a black girl. So at least the iPod is Stephanie-ish. That's a good thing, right?

I'm watching the claymation of Rudolph. Why on earth does the elf want to be a dentist? That is silly.

I got yet another email about my lack of blog updating today:

I have yet to see your blog updated. While yesterday's concert was average at
best for the BNL, you were treated to a song I haven't heard them do in 10 years
(Rio) and a song I've never heard in concert, that is not on any album, that
I've heard rumors of for 5 or 6 years (Powder Blue). So I was excited.

Ok. So I obviously went to the BNL concert last night. At the Palace Theatre. (I have to go there tonight for a meeting. I spend a lot of time there.) They actually sang *my* favorite song, "What a Good Boy." So that excited me. As well as all other other greatest hits, and some Christmas songs. Though I have to say, my knees were in agony. How is it that I can play soccer and be fine, but JUST STANDING during a concert and I swear that I was going to die?? That makes no sense.

So before the concert, the BNL were milling around. This guy, maybe in his 40s or 50s, jumps (and I mean JUMPS) over seats and SKIPS over to the crowd. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he skipped. SKIPPED I tell you. I couldn't stop laughing. It was a sad, sad moment in humanity.

But yesterday wasn't just a good day, it was a GREAT day. Why great, you ask? Because I got my REM Fan Club Christmas gift. The calendar has some great pictures in it. I'm partial to December (black and white photo of Michael Stipe int he snow in some town) and November shot of back of Michael's head at the Coliseum in Rome - where I went to see them. So I was in Rome at the same time as he was. And I went to the Coliseum. I wonder if we were there at the same time? I prefer to thnk yes...

It also had a vide of two performance live - Turn You Inside Out and The Great Beyond. I love the latter b/c it has the lyrics, "I'm bending spoons" which, for some reason, I like.

I takes so little for a great day. Just REM, really...

BUT I heard a rumor that JK Rowling has stated that she does, in fact, plant to kill Harry off in Book 7. That's so unfair. Harry has had a shit life. You've already killed off Dumbledore and Sirius, his parents are dead, why kill Harry too?? WHYYYY????

In the newspaper today, I read that 43% of the people think that Ebenezer Scrooge is a Republican, compaired with 21% who think he's a Democrat. Interesting...I don't remember politics woven a Dickens' A Christmas Tale. Written in 1843. Especially since the Republican Party wasn't founded until 1854...

Also 27% of peple believe Santa is a Democrat, compared with 16% who think he is a Republican (also 6% say that he is a member of the Green Party and 21% believe that Santa is an Independent). Santa is in the North Pole, right? I know I'm not skilled in geography, but Alaska isn't the North Pole, right? So technically, the North Pole may not have the US political parties.

And perhaps the better question - who even thinks of these things? And who can answer these with a straight face?

So I didn't get to the go the Browns game. I got a call at 6 pm last night telling me that I had to work today. I was a dissatsified Stephanie in life. Alas, my Browns ticket went to waste. It was the only game I was going to this season as well, so I'm pretty disappointed.

The Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club had their Holiday party last night at Velvet Dog. I went early because I had soccer at 6.30 and 7.30, so I had to leave by 6.20. (Many may doubt whether I'd leave if I was at a bar. For the second game in a row, I actually did. My friend had to go to class at 6.30, so he made sure that I left when he did.)

Anyway, I get to my car (which I parked on Frankfort b/w W3rd and W6th rather in the lot b/c I was only there for 40 minutes) and my window was broken and someone stole all my stuff out of it. By this I mean my purse and all its contents (of which I'm most upset about my iPod - I LIVE on that thing), my briefcase for work and all its contents (and since I put my makeup on in the car this morning - lecture me later - that includes all my makeup. Of course, all my makeup is foundation, mascara, and blush, but still, it was MINE), and my soccer bag (so my cleats, shins, WARM CLOTHES, including my college sweatshirt that is truly irreplacable). All in all, over $100o was stolen.

I was so freaked out. Literally, I could not think. I am a control freak (try to contain your shock) and this really freaked me out. I called my dad and got his VM so I left him a message and called my friend who had been at the bar with me. He came over and during that time I was waiting, I called 911 (Cleveland Police said that I had to go to them) and my dad called - he just got out of the Justice Center which was within spitting distance from where I was, so he came over. It was really funny, my friend was picked glass from my car when my dad came up with his work car. And I say to my friend, "oh, good, [local television station] is here now." And he says, "no they aren't; you didn't call them." And I said that I did and pointed to the car, which has the news channel on it, and my friend asked if I was nuts. The look on his face - before I said it was my dad - was classic.

So the big pieces of glass were removed, my friend gave me two towels to put on the seat and floor in case they missed any class so I wouldn't cut myself, and I drove in the freezing cold to the police station. Since I had to come to them. What about fingerprinting? What about looking for witnesses? Evidence??

So after dealing with the Cleveland Police Department filing my police report for about an hour (where all I kept saying is that people suck) obviously my night was over. Except I was pissed - *I* like to decide when my night is over, you know? So I went to the soccer game (without a coat and dressed for work - damn thieves have my soccer stuff now!), mainly b/c it was the ref's last game b/c he's having surgery and I wanted to say hi. I ended up staying there for more than half the game. It was freezing.

Then I drove to my dad's house to get his car (he has a work car that he is using during the day) and went back to downtown. I know, I'm stupid, but it's like being upset when this happened that I couldn't go play soccer (which is all I kept saying at the police station), I felt like I was reaaserting control over my life, which gave me comfort. Like the sooner that I did "normal" things life would go back to normal. I know it makes no sense but that's the way that I felt.

So now I'm on the phone with my insurance company and glass companies trying to find someone who can do this for me TODAY rather than Monday. The best I have found is tomorrow - I'm about to go with that I think. They will at least come to me and I don't have to go to them. But that still leaves me without a car for today. My dad can't drive his work car when he's not working and all that stuff. This is just an incredible hastle that I don't need.

I said it all last night and I'll say it again - People Suck.


In other news, this weekend is not one, but TWO shows of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. (Actually, they are here for three shows, but I only have tickets to two of them. I show some restraint, don't I? And I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go to the third show.) I'm also going to the Browns game this Sunday. Tailgating, the entire party. I suspect that because God likes messing with me, it will be cold out again. Or maybe because it's December.

Speaking of, can you believe that it's Christmas? That is amazing. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. And I didn't do too bad with my New Year's Resolution as well. You can always do better, of course, but overall, I get a "passing" grade on sustaining New Year's Resolutions.

And I got the tickets that I have to sell for this Easter Seals Guys and Dolls Bachelor and Bachelorette Bid were there. Yikes. Anyone want to pay $40 to come and see this event? It's all a good cause. Let me know. I need to sell 8, and I think that if you could the random search engine people, I have 8 readers. OK, maybe not.