PIZZA PIZZA

Last night Mary Anne & I went out in the pouring rain to get pizza at Sizzle Pie in Kingston. As usual, the directions my father gave us were entirely too confusing & we went unnecessarily out of our way. We didn't know that North Street changes into Pierce Street. To go with everything else, I was low on gas so we stopped at the Turkey Hill next door. The pump didn't work so we went to the next one. The visibility stinks on nights like that. She, Steve & Bridget left at around 10:45 today. It was a hectic time but I really enjoyed most of it. This evening, I have to lector at 5:00 Mass. The weather's extremely nice today. It's been warm enough lately that all the snow's been melting. Yesterday, at various times, Uncle Frankie & Aunt Lauren showed up. Doug & Benjamin came over for a while too. The kinfolk all had a nice long talk about Doug's work as a policeman & all his controversial cases. I'd go stark raging nuts with a job like that. I read some of "War & Peace" yesterday & ate some gorgonzola cheese. That stuff takes some major getting used to.

TOUGH TRIP

Yesterday, I went to the Wyoming Valley Mall to get something with the gift card Michael got me for FYE. I ended up getting the latest Paul McCartney CD/DVD & the James Bond movie, "Goldfinger". Pop culturally, I've always been a bit more than a slight throwback. I even ended up making sure I got an application for a job at the book store. That would be for sure right up my alley, now wouldn't it? Coming home was an absolute nightmare though. I must have spent at least an entire fifteen minutes just waiting & traveled an entire grand total of five feet through it all. The flow of traffic wouldn't let me onto the northbound land of 309 so I was forced to take 315 to the Oblates' Seminary. The claustrophobia of it all is a major bummer about the Christmas season for me. All worked out well eventually though. Mary Anne & Bridget, when last I saw them this morning, were building a gingerbread house & making apple sauce. Bridget wants very much to call Michelle soon. Maybe she'll even be able to have a chance to see Benjamin.

LOUSY DAY WEATHER.WISE

Bridget's feeling quite well so far. All worked out pretty well for her. She was so tired yesterday after all she was forced to go through. Mary Anne promised to take her shopping today. The weather is icy cold & drizzling though. The sky is one gigantic grey cloud. Winters are awfully dreary around here. Yesterday I read a few dozen more pages of that Chaucer biography. It turns out that he wrote the "Troilus & Cressida" that, I should assume, was the source of Shakespeare's famous play. His inspiration was a work by Boccaccio. My head's always been full of these kinds of artsy fartsy facts & figures. I spend lots of time on the internet these days, like lots of other people. There are all sorts of altercations between extreme right(including me for sure) & left(eeew!) wingers. So far, though, I seem to have avoided making any unnecessary enemies. It's just a question of behaving at least reasonably well & not stooping to personal attacks. We have less than a year to got yet before the big election so those kinds of differences are inevitably going to get quite seriously heated up. One of these days I shall have to call Mary Ellen for Christmas. I promised Vinnie I'd try to get around to it. She likes to talk on the phone an awfully long time though. The phone's always been yet another of my major pet peeves. Even the very sight, sound etc. of it has always gotten me stark raging nutso. The new year approaches. Let's hope it's a good one without any fear. At various times over the course of the day, Aunt Lauren, Uncle Frankie, Fran & Lisa came over yesterday.

FRUSTRATING CHRISTMAS

Bridget got extremely sick early yesterday morning. She seems to be doing quite well now though but it was very scary for quite a while. Fran will be taking her & Mary Anne home from the hospital today. Steve, Michael & Sam went home at about 9:00 this morning. Michael has to go to work at one o'clock. Everybody had a good time. There were lasagne, ham, lamb & all sorts of other extremely seriously fattening foods. Sam is extremely heavily into soccer & the drums. He can ramble on about them absolutely constantly. We played Monopoly for a while on Christmas Eve & Christmas. We all got bored & frustrated after a while because that game really tends to linger until it gets boring & frustrating. They got the "Pirates of the Caribbean" version. Rocco & I were lectors at 10:00 a.m. Mass yesterday. The church was packed. Michael was supposed to go with me but things got entirely out of hand. Fran & Uncle Frankie got all the available kin to their house yesterday. For a while, one night, I hung around for well over an entire hour & listened to some solo Beatle CD's, everybody except John Lennon. Surprisingly, I still haven't gotten any headaches lately. It's officially been winter for the past few days. One advantage of this time of the year is that from now on, the sun will go down about a minute later each night from now on.