skjam

As mentioned last time, the family gathering was postponed, so I opened the presents that came by mail in the morning.

hepburnesque I got a postcard, Austrian candy and a CD of an Austrian singer.

As expected, the package from celeria was a copy of "The Mermaid Chair", but the embossed gift card was a nice bonus.

And two DVDs, "Serenity" from greenhawk and "Star Trek" (the reboot movie) from my Hero Games Secret Santa.

Thanks, everyone!

In the afternoon, I headed out to the movie theater. The temperature had gone up considerably, so the heavy snowfall of the previous night had turned into inch-thick sludge on the sidewalks, and meltoff ponds at every street corner. My feet were soaked through by the time I got to Block E.

It's been quite a while since I was stuck in the cities for Christmas, and I was a bit disappointed to discover that absolutely everything in Block E was closed except the theater itself. I'd hoped to get dinner in before the show. Instead I wound up hanging in the lobby for an hour--and the Kerasotes no longer has video games as a distraction.

The Sherlock Holmes movie itself was a fun film. I could have done without the flatulence, and some of the fight scenes were unnecessarily confusing, but overall quite good.

Afterwards, I found that Gameworks (the actual video arcade) had opened, but only had bar food. Didn't matter, I just wanted something warm.

I waited on the bus rather than slog the eight or so blocks back to my apartment, though this didn't keep my feet from getting soaked again on the last block taken on foot.

This morning, the temperature had dropped again, turning the sludge and melt into a lovely layer of ice. Slick in spots, yes, but far less annoying.

At the post office, another card had arrived from fushiforever, a handmade card that says "Merry Christmas from California!" and by golly depicts the state of California topped by a Santa hat. Also included was a mix CD, no tracklist so everything's a surprise. Thanks to you also!

Did a little post-Christmas shopping, then headed home.