Happy New Year!

It seems that every year I try to plan something super exciting to celebrate New Year's Eve. It's like the first and last day of school: the others don't matter, but you cannot miss the first and last day of school. Those matter. And so it's funny. I love holidays but I always feel some compulsion to celebrate New Year's OUT LOUD just so I can say I did something exciting on New Year's Eve. Weird. This year, however, I think I'm staying in. Invariably, I'm always disappointed by the big crowds of people I don't know and I wonder why I even put on my party dress in the first place if nobody was going to see it (and appreciate it) anyway. Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm this year for big parties and all that goes with them (pretending to be interested in people you're not really interested in, standing in one place as you look for people you know, the cheese ball and crackers that is not nearly enough to take the place of dinner), I hope that everyone had a wonderful 2008 and that 2009 brings even more blessings, surprises, triumphs, smiles, and laughter. I have been very blessed this year and have experienced so many wonderful things and grown in so many ways. Here's to 2009!

Color Me Disgusted...And Chastened

Last night was my company's Christmas party, held at The Point located at the University of Utah's campus. It's a beautiful place. Dinner was on the 6th floor and it had an amazing view. As I looked out at night, the lights of the town glittered in the distance. I was charmed.

Naturally, I brought a date to the event. Actually, I don't normally bring dates to work parties, I'm sure it's such a bore for them. But I thought that this year I would do it. It was a somewhat formal affair with a fancy place and people were getting dressed up . . . maybe this wasn't the night to go stag. So I asked a friend to join me.

Which he was fine with, until about 3 hours before the party. And then he started to get a little lippy with me, blatantly telling me he did not want to go. I was torn--part of me felt awful. I had just dragged my friend to a party where he didn't know anyone except me and he didn't even want to be there. But the other part of me wanted to say, "Buck up, dude! It's a party! That's it! Four hours of your life and you're done!" I tried placating him with visions of drunk people falling on their heads, but it didn't do the trick. The whole night felt slightly awkward--I was alternating between bouts of irritation and guilt. What a night.

Finally, around 9 o'clock, he suggested we leave. I'll admit, the party hadn't been as thrilling as I was hoping it would be, so I was fine at the prospect of leaving. We grabbed our coats and headed out.

As we were leaving he says, "Remember how I went to the bathroom earlier?"

How could I forget? He was gone for about fifteen minutes. I figured he was making phone calls and trying to form a special ops team to get him out.

"Well, I threw up in there. I'm pretty sick."

My heart fell. This kid had been sick the entire time and I hadn't even noticed it. He'd been more quiet than usual and barely ate anything. I felt like such a jerk for being caught up in my own thoughts not to notice.

We take off. We are at the bottom of the hill when he says, "Can you pull over?"

And then he proceeded to throw up (again) for about five minutes--possibly longer, I lost track--while I sat in the driver's seat. What do you do? I just sat there. There isn't much you can offer a guy who is hanging out of the door of your car and puking his guts out. Luckily, I had a box of Kleenex in my car. I don't know what patron saint ensured that there were Kleenex in my car, but I was surely thankful for that.

So next year . . . I may just go to the work party alone.

My Most Hated Christmas Song

It's a crappy song designed to manipulate you into thinking about the true meaning of Christmas. I blame these cheesy Christmas songs for distorting the true meaning of Christmas rather than all those folks who think consumerism is at the root of destroying the Christmas spirit. And why does the poor kid have to ask the man standing behind him for the money to buy his dying mother shoes? Shouldn't that dude have the sense to automatically offer the money? If there were some little guy trying to buy Christmas shoes for his dying mother, I would not be standing like an idiot pretending that the scene before me wasn't one of the most heartbreaking things I'd ever seen. I'd be buying those shoes and whatever else that kid wanted. Seriously. You wanna jet? I'll make it happen.

On a lighter note, I love, love, LOVE when the actors mouth the lyrics to the song. Doesn't look fake or staged at all.

White Christmas

There are some traditions that just can't be missed, and watching White Christmas is one of them. I remember the first time I watched this movie . . . I was with my roommate Anna and we snuck off to the dollar theater on campus (we were freshman, poor, and in desperate need of avoiding homework. I had never heard of a dollar theater before moving to Utah and I thought it was the most brilliant idea.) Since then, there have been very few Christmases where I have not see this movie. This is one of my favorite holiday movies, although I think the reason why I like it is because it's not a traditional Christmas movie. Sure, it's cheesy, but there aren't any songs about Santa or the realization of some Christmas miracle sometime toward the end. They just used Christmas as an excuse to produce another song and dance movie. But hey, I'm not complaining! I really love this movie.

Here are some interesting facts about White Christmas:
1. The song "White Christmas" was originally sung in the movie Holiday Inn. The movie is based on the song which became the bestselling single for more than 50 years until overtaken in 1997 by "Candle in the Wind", Elton John's tribute to the late Princess Diana. (I think this is seriously messed up, by the way.)
2. Rosemary Clooney (center left) is the aunt of George Clooney. I would much rather meet her than George, to be honest.
3. Vera-Ellen (far right) suffered from anorexia throughout the 50s, long before doctors had coined the term anorexia. Due to her anorexia, she suffered from arthritis and premature aging. In fact, she only wears turtlenecks in White Christmas because her neck looked severely older than the rest of her body.
4. Danny Kaye was the third choice for the movie behind Fred Astaire and someone else.
5. Rosemary Clooney sings both parts in the song "Sisters."

Overheard in the Office

E: What do lace tights look like?
R: Well . . . you know what lace looks like, right? Kind of white and . . .
E: Kind of flowery?
R: Um, yeah . . . kind of . . .
E: Like a doily?
R: Yeah! Like a doily covering your legs. Think Madonna circa 1984.