Bookshelf:

Recently Read & Reviewed:

• Charles Stross, Toast

Currently Reading:

• Tim Powers, Declare

Next Up:

1. Robert Reed, Sister Alice
2. Sean McMullen, Call To The Edge
3. Scott Westerfield, The Risen Empire

Wa-a-ay Behind

Ahh, another busy December. I always seem to end up wa-a-ay behind on my Christmas shopping, and this year is no exception. Wa-a-ay behind. thank goodness for mail order and Amazon.com. I think I've also been driving Debbi up the wall because there's not a whole lot I really want this year. I seem to have reached the point where my desires are being balanced by my available time and my space to put things.

Speaking of which, I really need to get a move on and start putting comics and books up on eBay and clear out some closet space...

This past weekend took a bite out of shopping time (not that I really minded) as we went to Disneyland again. Yes yes, it's my third time in three years. Debbi's elated, I think (or something). We went with her friends Lisa and Michel, and Lisa's ex-roomie Yvonne. And met up with Yvonne's boyfriend Wender when we got there.

Saturday we had quite good weather - reasonably warm, partly sunny, and a brief drizzle. We were amazingly productive, defined as "rides experienced per hour". By mid-afternoon I think we'd gone on almost every ride we wanted to go on at least once.

Everyone else chickened out on the Grizzly River Run, because you do get wet on it, and they didn't want to catch cold. Well, it's one of my favorite rides and last year I didn't get to go because we put it off and put it off, and then it shut down for the rest of our last day there. So I went alone this time (well, with three teenaged girls on the raft with me) and had a great time. And everyone else took photos of me. And I didn't get too wet, and dried off within an hour. And didn't get sick! So yay me!

Sunday the rains came. Drizzle all day long. Fortunately I brought my water-resistant fleece-lined jacket, which worked well for most of the day until it just got a little too soaked. (Okay, one ride too many on Splash Mountain might have had something to do with that.) The rain did mean we got to go on a lot of rides without waiting, because the park was emptier. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean at least twice. Sadly, the Grizzly is a bit of a downer when it's actually raining, and the California Screaming coaster is also a pain when it's raining because it's hard to keep your eyes open in the spray.

We did ride the new Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride twice. It has some downsides. First, you wait in line to go in to the "introduction" room where you learn the "story" of the ride. Then... you wait in line again to get on the actual ride. The replica of a run-down 30s Hollywood hotel is kinda cool, but not that cool. Also, the "story" has a reasonably neat setup, but no payoff. I guess there's a cheesy movie about it, but whatever. The ride itself is quite good, being a "drop" ride with the added attraction of dropping you several times, and in a seemingly-random pattern (maybe it really is random, or at least computerized-pseudorandom). So it's worth going on, but the "bonus line" is annoying.

So we had a good time, did some shopping, and ate a bunch of food. And ended up with very tired feet. Plus I read most of a pretty good book on the drive down and back. Can't ask fairer than that.

Work has been insanely busy. I'm gradually making progress, but it's been quite a fight this week, what with meetings and administrivia which have been coming to the fore. Throw Christmas on top of that and I am one stressed out puppy right now.

But it's almost the weekend, so maybe everything will look up by Monday.