Merry Christmas, with Apologies

Hi! Merry Christmas!

I'm not typically prone to over-self-analysis, but I realized that part of the reason I hadn't gotten off my duff to post something to the website is that I was mildly ashamed of the fact that I'm currently *ahem* under-employed. I have a job, but no hours to go with it; and, of course, I always want to put my super-successful-and-mega-optimistic-Adam face forward at all times, so when things don't go so hot(ly), I imagine I just kind of want to stick my head in the sand for a bit.

Pfft. Anyway.

It's Christmas!

Here's our tree:

As you can see, we've been naughty this year, and Santa's passed us over. (PROTIP: That's Ganesh on the wall behind the tree.)

And here's our door:

Katie saw these wreaths when we were in Columbus, Ohio (visiting Matt and Abby), that were made of jingle bells. We weren't able to find one for sale, so we hit upon the idea of buying a regular wreath and sticking a load of jingle bells on it, for the same effect. The Snowman cost a dollar at the Dollar Tower store down the street. A steal, pure and simple.

Meeting people in New York is a bit of a mission, namely because no one else will ever take any goddamned initiative. We successfully befriended our neighbours in Glendale, but distance has rendered that relationship sort of moot. (The remove between Glendale and Manhattan is nearly as great, comparatively, as that between Taichung and St. John's.) We've been in Inwood for about 8 months now, and only ever met a few of our neighbours (in a 50-unit building) in passing. So, in the spirit of the season, we had a party last night to celebrate Tipp's Eve (which, stupefyingly, doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry; WTF). We posted a little sign down in the lobby of our building. A grand total of five neighbours showed up, lol. They were absolutely lovely people, all of them, and we happy few had a nice time. But I'm simply astounded that so few people dropped by, just for a drink and how-do-you-do. New York is a strange place, and we continue to muddle through.

I've saved up a great deal of internet fun over the past few months. Here are some things to look at as your chestnuts roast over open fires, etc.

Obama has nothing on this guy.

Hooray, beer! I cannot believe I had never seen this commercial before.

I've never even had Red Stripe. Is it any good?

Not for kids:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

(Stupid video is too wide.)

Tron 2 is probably old news, but this is still pretty slick.

This is a pretty cool cover for a French gaming magazine. I can recognize everyone except for the girl holding the green vegetables. (I think she might be the character from Mirror's Edge. Oh yeah, that's totally her.)

Here's a weird, weird, weird CNN story about the world's weirdest guy. Read it all and watch the accompanying video. Then go hug someone and thank whatever god you believe in.

This is a very funny explanation of World of Warcraft, using Super Mario Brothers as an analogy. Amusing for those not addicted, hilarious for those who are. The screenshots kill me.

And, Hitler has, fantastically, finally become the object of utter ridicule that he deserves to be.

BlazBlue is a fighting game, I think.

That is all. I am going to sit and watch some Christmas movies with Katie. Her mom and stepdad are coming to town tonight. (They were supposed to come tomorrow, but something happened with a storm, and things got changed. Fun!)

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I really mean that. I miss you all. Call us on Skype or come visit.

Now fuck off.

Love, Adam
Jinggedy-jing (hee-haw, hee-haw), it's Dominick the donkey. Jinggedy-jing (hee-haw, hee-haw), the Italian Christmas donkey.  La la la-la la-la la la la la. La la la-la la-la la-ee-oh-da....