I just wanted to get something out today! I'll have a more descriptive narrative tomorrow… tonight if the kids cooperate. I hear one now…
Cheers!
Tag Archive for christmas
No disintegrations : Christmas Treat
Okay, so it's not a Boba Fett quote, but it works. So enjoy
Source of this “version” of Twas the Night Before Christmas can be found here.
Author: Kentaro P Maeda
Email: kentaro@Hawaii.Edu
Date: 1998/12/24
Forums: rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc
I'm sure it's been done many times, many ways,
But here's my X-Mas parody, in time for the holidays
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
(A VISIT FROM ST. BOBAFETT)
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the stars
Things were all right, except for some wars;
The stockings were hung in my smuggling freighter,
In hopes that St. Bobafett would stop by here later;
The clients were nestled all snug in my ship
(They promised 17 thou for an Alderaan trip);
My first mate in fur and I in my vest
Napped, eager for the pay from our guests.
When out on the hull there arose such a buzz,
I checked the ship's sensors to see what the deal was.
I picked up visual scanning and looked into space,
Pressing against the canopy the nose on my face.
The stars in the distance lightened the Falcon in motion,
Making things brighter than a TIE fighter explosion,
When, what to my wondering eyes looked upon,
But an elephant-looking ship, and eight tiny taun-tauns,
With a masked, armored pilot, if I were to bet,
I would in a flash have said it was Fett.
More rapid than speeders, his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
Now, Johnny! now, Ralphie! now Benny, and Gary!
On Irvin! on Frankie! on Richie, and Larry!
To the top of the Falcon! to the ship's quadrant rear!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away near!”
As mynocks onto your ship they will hug,
Whenever you're in the intestines of a giant space slug,
So on to the Falcon the tauntauns they flew,
With a cargo hold of toys, and St. Bobafett too.
And then, on the hull, I heard the beasts walk about
(They smell worse on the inside than they do on the out).
As I left the cockpit and snuck through the lounge,
In the exhaust port St. Bobafett came with a bound.
Accentuating his armor were a red velvet cloak,
a hat, and two gloves (all were blackened by smoke);
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
Careful not to set off his touchy jet pack.
His mask — it was weathered! His cape was all torn!
His boots had small holes, his pants were all worn!
While his bounty hunting skills left much to be desired,
One who gives gifts and good cheer must be admired.
He downed the blue milk and wolfed all the cookies
That were set there for him by me and the Wookiee,
He sure loved dessert, since he sported a gut
That shook when he mumbled, like a certain vile Hutt.
He clumsily sneaked, without right jolly old guile,
So I let loose a sheepish grin, in true Harrison style;
His glance towards me, his salute as I peeked,
Soon gave me to know 'twas not bounty he seeked;
He murmered a bit, that guy so laconic,
While filling the stockings with gadgets 'lectronic.
Then laying his finger aside his trademark mask “T”,
And giving a nod, out the exhaust port he fleed;
Towards the stars he then flew, only without his starship;
His jet pack had fired 'cause the Unlucky One had tripped!
I heard him cry out — though effeminately like Ma –
“HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD– AAAAAAAHHH!!!.”
Fin.
——-
Ken Maeda University of Hawaii-Manoa
kentaro@hawaii.edu http://www2.hawaii.edu/~kentaro/home.html
“Hate… leads to suffering!”
“Kermit the Frog, you are just adorable!”
Weekend Update
It has been 12 days since I last ran. Surprisingly enough, I am not in a bad mood or cranky because I am not running. I probably would do just fine running this week, but I probably won't get a chance to do that until Thursday at the earliest and I can only imagine that work will end early because of the winter holiday (and yes, the 26th is a holiday, the rest of next week are administrative closings)
I had an anonymous commenter on my Holidaze Spirit post and it really got me thinking a little out of my sheltered brain. The first thing that I came up with is that those worshiping santa (for a lack of better term) are not necessarily Christian. They could actually be any denomination, if they chose. But you run into two big problems. First, it's the people who will say that Santa and other traditional symbols are based on Christian believes. Perhaps they were but this country was based on Christian beliefs and now there are plenty of different religions around here. These people will say that a Christmas tree and all the lights and the ornaments are Christian based. Maybe, but there's nothing in the Christian Life Manual (i.e. the Bible) that says that the three wise men put up a christmas tree in the manager and lit candles on it. As a symbol, it's not really christian anymore, if it ever was. It's part of holiday season now a days. Same with lights, also, it's the same with a halloween costume. That's a christian/pagan ritual now commercialized. Christmas lights… same thing. Okay, there is a reference to Santa Claus as St. Nicholas (Night Before Christmas) based on the actual Saint that did similar things that Santa does today. But, with my extensive reference section (i.e. 1980s Holiday cartoons) suggests that Santa is actually St. Nick but as a Mr. Chris Kringle.
Christmas carols, yes, most are Christian… this is Jesus' birth songs. Christmas songs, not so much. Plus, you have to take out the “Christmas Songs” that are really seasonal songs such as Jingle Bells, Walking in a Winter Wonderland, etc. Even RUN DMC's “Christmas in Hollis” references holiday items (christmas tree, snowmen, turnip greens, santa's ill reindeer) but doesn't pin it to one religion. Chanukah songs are few and far between… there's Dreidle (popularized for my generation by the cartoon Southpark) and Chanukah Song Parts I and II by Adam Sandler, who celebrates the people who light the menorah. I know of no Kwanzah songs.
So, I have come to my own conclusion that you can celebrate Christmas, not as “Christ's” Day or “Christos” mass. But you can have Christmas tree and lights, etc… if you choose and if it doesn't conflict with your religious beliefs. Eric's first picture with Santa is at church and I wrote ironic on the back.
One of my favorite groups is XTC and the lead singer and main songwriter's named Andy Partridge and he is an atheist. Funny that a christian guy like me likes a group that sings a song called “dear God” that goes on to say
“but all the people that you made in your image, see
them starving on their feet 'cause they don't get
enough to eat from God, I can't believe in you”
Anyway, they have a song called “Thanks for Christmas” which one of their songs that actually gets airplay.
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that's snowing down, all around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all around the worldIt's nearer, children's eyes shine clearer now
As they decorate the trees, all across the seven seas
It's nearer, yule log fires burn clearer now
In the winter's frosty air, sing with us and we can share ourThanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that's snowing down, all around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all around the worldIt's dawning, Santa's reindeer yawning now
All their festive work is done, filling houses up with fun
It's dawning, here is Christmas morning now
Greatest day of all the year, listen out and you will hear ourThanks for Christmas
It's such a shame it's only one day every year
Three hundred and sixty-four days full of doubts and fear
You've been saving your love up, let it out, 'cos Christmas is hereThanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that's snowing down, all around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all around the worldThanks for Christmas
I do feel bad for those who don't believe and are subjected to the Christmas Militants that insist if you don't participate you're a Scrooge or a Grinch. They are doing anything wrong, theit just doing what they want to do. But now this year when the words “Merry Christmas” are labeled as almost a curse word, although I didn't see “God Bless America” or “In God WE Trust” anywhere in those two words. ANd you know what… I don't want to wish a Merry Christmas, I'd much rather wish a Happy Holiday or Season's Greetings or some other generic greeting like that. Why? Because wishing someone a Merry Christmas is only good for one day! I don't want to be that narrow… I want to wish you a whole bunch of “winter friendliness”. So I hope that you all have a Happy Holiday (which includes a Merry Christmas even if there is no religious significance) which I have been saying for years now.
Boy, I need to get back to running. This other crap is for the birds. I need to blog about intervals and training programs.
Also, this post is by no means any effort to defend or attack Christmas, nor will I really get excited about any pointed comments or references pointing out what I say is wrong. First, look at my references… a pop band and cartoons. Second, I'm not getting paid to blog… now if you want to pay me, I might do some extra research. What I do like are comments like my Holidaze posts… I find these informative to me, it helps me get into the head of others, which in turn makes me think, hence this post. I'm not jewish, in high school we did a passover event. I went to one of my fraternity brother's wedding where there was a pastor and a rabbi. That's about it for my Jewish knowledge. I know no one who celebrates Kwanzaa. I have plenty of atheist friends who celebrate (and don't celebrate) Christmas.
Oh well… man, I REALLY need to get running again… did I mention that yet?
“Thank you for the winter friendliness that's snowing down, all around the world” (Kaspar / Melchior / Balthazar)
Upcoming Races:
01/28 Calhoun's 10 miler (Loudon, TN)
02/18 Strawplain's 1/2 marathon (Strawberry Plains, TN)
03/26 Covenant Health 2nd Annual Knoxville Marathon
Illness Be GONE!
I am just about healed up for all practical purposes. This disease has taken 7 days and $20 of my life away so far. So, it will be nice to get back out and running. The only thing that will stop me is if I cough up ALOT in the morning. A little will be fine and hopefully, running will break up any of the stubborn crap that is hanging around.
Can't say that a lot has happened since the last post. I have really only been trying to heal thy body, so I've been listening to podcasts and reading blogs when I am not working or taking care of the house, etc. Although, I might start some Christmas baking today, if the planets align properly.
Holidaze Spirit
I'm having a hard time figuring out what to call this post.
When you live in East Tennessee there is no shortage of lack of a better term, tackiness. I know that every part of the country has their share of folks provide their contribution to the world of tacky.
Anyway, here in East Tennessee you have your normal stuff: Vans painted with murals of UT football players, Orange and not just on camouflage but EVERYWHERE. You have your farm lands that sit next to subdivisions of $250,000 homes. Everyone you know has a boat because of the predominant river system where everyone fishes but NEVER eats their catch. There is always road construction, why? because we LOVE the ORANGE and white barrels. It goes on and on. And Christmas time is one time of the year that we can let our inner-tacky out. You may not be a Clark W. Griswold with your christmas lights, but your house may have more lights than last year. After all a lighted nativity set isn't complete without a “shroud” of white lights over it (significant? dunno). This is in my neighborhood. Also in my neighborhood is the string of lights that is hovering in mid-air. Actually it's one strand on a branch… how festive. YAY.
Now in our neighborhood… we do have delightfully tacky. It actually borderlines on cool rather than tacky. The homeowners are obviously fans of the Carribean, haven't met them… so can tell for sure. But the first thing that you see is a lighted palm tree. No, not a real palm tree with lights but a light structure shaped in a palm tree with appropriate colors in all the appropriate places. What is impressive is not that you would say “oh, that's a palm tree” what you say “oh, that's a BIG palm tree”. It stand 6-8 feet tall.
But for the piece de resistance… have you ever seen a Christmas Dolphin? Me neither until the Christmas we moved into our current house. Sure enough, it is a dolphin with a Santa hat on with all the colors that would suggest “look it's the Christmas Dolphin”. Hell, it could be a porpoise for all I know… I haven't stopped to ask. So what's so special about the “Christmas Dolphin”? It moves! Yes, in grand fashion, this animated Christmas decoration details the livelihood of said dolphin jumping out of and back into the water. There are 4 or 5 actual units that make up the dolphin and are rigged so that it looks as if the dolphin is actually. It must be 20 feet wide or something… it's BIG and it's attached to their house or deck. In fact, it's so cool that it is the highlight of the neighborhood and if we were driving around with you, we would take you on a path which would unveil the dolphin in all of its glory. Did I mention that this house is at the top of the highest part in our subdivision and you could probably see the dolphin from a great distance?
But my original post wasn't about the significance of a Christmas mammal that swims which I just puked up onto the screen. It's actually about something I saw coming into work today. Something that is the reason why I carry a camera with me at all time. I am hoping that I can catch the owner to ask them a few questions… I am intrigued. This year is the attack on Christmas. You can't say Merry Christmas without hurting someone. You know, if someone said Happy Chanukah or Happy Holidays or Jolly Kwanzaa etc… I know that they would be wishing me well this time of year.
So I found someone who is making a stand of sorts and it is clear on which side of the Christmas debate they back. Because when you go to this trouble, you have to Believe… a beacon of Christmas spirit in this day of political correctness. This is what I found at work today… Behold:
and those ARE Christmas light holding him down.
Year in Review
This year has been fairly good up to this point. We watched UT beat the socks off of Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Sunday, we took down all of the inside Christmas decorations and packaged them away for next year. we broke out all of our scrapbooking material so that she and her consultants could make their Mary Kay goal posters. Only one person made it, Janie and she made a pretty awesome goal poster. Jen didn’t make hers yet, but will in the near future.
As of total I have 6 miles for this year, all on the treadmill. I was supposed to run on Saturday morning, but that feel through and then I was too tired to run on sunday morning. I really really need to get my mileage in. I think that I am going to do a super duper long run the first or second week of February which will be about 6 weeks out from the marathon.
Jen had an appointment on the 5th for Baby Incognito. No pictures this time but the heartbeat was about 130-140 and sounded good. Our next appointment is not until Jan 31st when they do a full blown ultrasound, so we will have new pictures then.
Jen did say that she felt some movement yesterday while driving. With Eric, I felt him on Feb 14th, which almost corresponds to right now with Baby Incognito, so I am hoping that I can feel movement any day now.
tomorrow we are leaving for a week for some Mary Kay fun and excitement. We are first going to Orlando for our National Sales Director Sylvia Kalicak’s debut for becoming a National sales Director. Then on Sunday we are driving from Orlando to New Orleans for Leadership Conference. I am going to watch Eric while we are New Orleans, although I would rather be going to the conference. I can’t complain because any day visiting New Orleans is a good day.
12.27.04 through 12.31.04
Our goal was to leave Loris around 11 am and I knew that we’d never leave until noon at best, which is our plan to say we are leaving early but have a later anticipated departure. During our travels from Loris to Colonial Heights, there was very little excitement. In fact, the only real problem was on Interstate 95, in the middle of North Carolina, we were averaging around 20-30 mph. The reason for this was that a snow storm had hit central NC and the beach area of Va a few days earlier. Now, the roads were fine, but there was snow on the ground. Once you got to the VA state line, however, the snow was gone.
We made it to Colonial Heights and where we saw Great-Grandmother Higgins, Grandpa Higgins and Janet. All waiting to see Eric and the changes since October. For GGma Higgins, this was their first meeting. I think it would have been nice to have been able to bring Eric when he was smaller and less mobil so that she could hold him. Eric is a wild child now and does not sit down very much anymore.
Tuesday (28th) our goal was to find some boots for Jen and for the Xterra to get an oil change. Both were successful. Eric ended up sleeping throughout the oil change and even while Pete and I went to get me a Slurpee…mmmmmm. After dinner, Jason and I arranged for him to come to visit, which was his first time meeting Eric. Jason and his wife Kim are Eric’s godparents. Being that Kim is very near due with thir second child and Jen’s tiredness of being on her feet all day looking for boots, it was just Jaymo and I cruisin’ the Boulevard. We ended up going to Friendly’s which is where we often went when we were in High School. Jason actually worked at that Friendly’s for a while. I got my absolute favorite, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup sundae made with chocolate ice cream. Jaymo and I caught up with what was going on plus reminisced about the good ole days.
Wednesday (29th) we left Colonial Heights and traveled 460W to Roanoke and then down to Knoxville via 81 and then to 40. We stopped in Blacksburg to see on of my UT Stats compadres, David Edwards. He is currently pursuing his Ph. D in statistics from Va Tech and should be finishing in 2007ish. It was good seeing his, unfortunately his wife Beth was at work, but we did spend a while with him at a Wendy’s right off the interstate.
We made it home just fine and I got to feed Spunky. Spunky is our across the street neighbor Sheila and Jim Kohl’s pet gecko. Now, she doesn’t speak like the one that Geico has, but getting to feed her is pretty cool. She gets fed crickets into her aquarium home where she hunts them down and eats them. She pauses like a cat and even her tail wags before she lunges. She is not accurate all the time and sometimes gets a mouthful of sand. Here are a few pictures of her.
New Years Eve we spent with Marty and Solange at their house. we had Ham, potatoes and coleslaw for dinner. After the kids went to bed we watched the movie Dodgeball which was a pretty funny movie.
Catsup, Ketchup or Catch Up
12.23.04 through 12.26.04
We made it through the stomach bug right before Christmas. In fact, I found what turned out to be liquid gold… Propel. As if water wasn’t already healthy, Gatorade, a few years ago, made “fitness water.” you know, water with a little flavor and few minerals, jack up the price and wah-la. [For those of you who read Dilbert, I also buy bags of soil but not bottles of air... yet.] We feared that Jen had become very dehydrated from the stomach bug that she was unable to drink very much. I had gone to Kroger to get some Powerade and while milling around the beverage isle, I saw Propel. Hmmm, I thought, flavored, but not sweet and it’s not carbonated. So, I gambled about $4.5 that these 4 plastic urns would carry the nectar that Jen’s body and Baby Incognito would desire. [Editors Note: Now that is the 2nd trimester, I might changed the name, maybe]
And it turned out to be a success! Propel was what Jen needed. I knew all that schooling would come in handle to make an educated guess. Anyway, on the 23rd, I had to leave work a little earlier than planned so that we wouldn’t leave too late. After all, Eric is handfull these days. We left around 6pm, I had wanted to get through the mountains before dark because I was worried about ice. There was no need. The only thing that was a real problem was Eric’s ears and the change in elevation. We made it to Loris, very very early on the 24th, around 1am or so.
Now the plan at the Palomares household for Christmas is to stay up late until midnight then a frenzy of focused paper tearing commences as you begin to inventory all the loot that you got. We tried to nap Eric a few times during the day since his schedule was all topsy-turvy from the trip.
Eric was a little tired at midnight, but he did enjoy the mayhem around him. He seemed to like ripping the paper, which was evident from back home where he will tear pieces of paper to very small particles.
Christmas morning I ran around Loris in some colder weather. I put on my “almost tights” since it was sooooo cold, in the mid 30s which is arctic for the Beach area. I mapped out my route that I took and found out that I ran 13.8 miles through out town in a time of 2:16. I guess that time is okay, but I was running for 8 minutes and walking for 1 and my pace was only a 9:53 mile. That puts me at a 4:16 marathon which is depressing. I will have to run again today when Jen gets home.
we saw The Jordans (Kip, Joy, Caleb and Rachel) that even which was my first attempt at a pecan pie. I tried to make it with a graham cracker crust and it was a flop. The filling wasn’t that bad, but the crust just sucked. I will have to use my Grandmother’s secret pie crust recipe. Everyone else in household watched a movie.
We went to the new Tanger outlet malls with Mommy P. Our mission was to look for some boots for Jen P. My mission was to go to the Old Navy Outlet and not blow a wad of cash. I only bought one shirt for 6.99, but my weakness was at the GAP outlet. Since Jen has been in Mary Kay, the outward image is important and needless to say, the first chapter of Dr. Phil’s book essentially says the same thing. Oh yeah, and so does the Fly Lady (Sink Reflections). So, I have been trying to also portray a more professional image when I leave the house, as I am a surrogate consultant, but seriously, I am the CEE of the household. That is Chief (because I have some small percentage american indian – blackfoot tribe – in me) Executive (because we have to have important sounding names, I could think of a few fun ones) Encourager (because as a MK husband, that is my biggest contribution that I can make). “My income is your income” – Jen P. So why wouldn’t I want her to be prosperous?? Anyway, I found nice stuff at the Bass Outlet that I really like.
It’s about time for me to pick up Eric, so I have to end this promptly. Jen is at an organizational workshop with some of the other MK directors. We really hope that we can fine tune our systems to be more efficient. We really need to find a babysitter, Eric is currently over at the neighbors who is always so sweet to watch him at the last moment, but it is not fair to her that we rely on her all the time. Although it is nice to be able to walk across the street to get him. Plus we trust her.
Hopefully my next update will be at the home computer… please wifi work this time…
Christmas Time
12/19/02
Christmas Time is here! We have had our tree up for a couple weeks now and everyday we have a random selection of Christmas songs playing on the CD player. Ah Festive! Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Karloff Style), A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life are just a few of my favorite holiday movies.
We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family this holiday season!
I got my grades back for the semester and for the FIRST time in my life I managed to get straight “A”s! I am so excited. I did put a lot of work into, so I was really glad that it paid off, especially since I thought that I BOMBED ( I Did) one of my exams.
