“Ange’s
1999 Holiday Adventures”
I’m glad I’m not a superstitious
person or I wouldn’t know what to think about how the new millenium will treat
me. My holidays were adventurous to say
the least. Let’s see, I’ve had some
kind of stomach flu since Thanksgivings (I won’t go into detail there), my
computer went out for about four weeks, and I think I broke my toe around
Christmas. Then my family had trouble with the plumbing in our bathroom, I had
some crappy shifts at the grocery store where I work around New Years’ Eve, my
car died New Year’s Eve and I drove my parent’s car in a ditch at 6 a.m. New
Year’s Day. But other than all that, my
New Years was just peachy J.
Many people
(those of you I know from the Internet) know that it all started with my
computer. First off, I messed up the
windows on my computer (oops!). Then
once I thought I got that all straightened out and a new video card, my modem
went out (ugh!). So because of work and
the holidays I had to wait to see if my modem was under warranty. Unfortunately, it wasn’t and I had to get a
new one. Then I had to wait another
week or so because of work and a certain part for my computer. In the end they had to put in a new
processor (free of charge for all my trouble) and a new modem. I just hope and pray that my computer will
last a bit longer now.
Most people know that I am a strange person and I
suppose because of that fact strange things happen to me. Anyway, I walked into my messy room and
lying on the floor was an empty box, a box that I received in the mail. The next thing I know my sock stuck to a
piece of tape on the box and my toe bent forward, twisting or breaking the toe
and hurting it like hell. It hurt so
badly that it made my sick to my stomach and I almost fainted. Then I had to work the next couple of days
at the grocery store and I ended up working one day in my house slippers. Luckily this happened right before Christmas
so I got a couple of days off from work and some people felt sorry for me and
pampered me (just a bit).
This year a week or so before Christmas, I tried to
surprise my mom by having the Christmas tree up while see went to the store and
ended up making more of mess getting to the tree than putting it up. In the end my mom and dad (cursing and
moaning) finally helped me clean up the living room and put up the Christmas
tree.
At my age (the ripe old age of 22) I get mostly
clothes for Christmas, which are always practical presents. I try to give people suggestions to what to
get me for Christmas, but I guess I’m just kind of hard to shop for (Babylon 5
stuff, Bruce Boxleitner stuff, Babylon 5 stuff, Bruce Boxleitner stuff).
The true meaning of Christmas is not receiving presents
but the idea of giving things to the needy, spending time with your families,
and for some people celebrating the birth of Jesus. That is why every year I make two birthday cakes. One to take to my dad’s side of the family
and one to take to mom’s side of the family.
They are two birthday cakes that say “Happy Birthday Jesus.” I even ran out of icing gel and made my dad
go to the store really early Christmas Eve.
I always love the hustle and bustle of Christmas
while my mom always hates it. I have to
say that Chel put the reason for this in perception for me (really she slapped
me in the face). Chel asked me what all
I had to do, to get ready for Christmas besides throwing on my clothes and
getting into the car. I told her not
much, maybe fixing a couple of birthday cakes.
She explained that she was the same way when she was my age, but now
that she’s a mother she’s sees the other side of the coin. Mothers go to a lot of work to get
everything ready. They usually end up
cooking any dishes or desserts, gathering all the stuff up, and loading up the
car and they usually end up doing this both Christmas Eve and Christmas
Day. I now see why my mother isn’t too
keen about all the work that has to be done for Christmas. I had every intention of helping my mother
is year. Unfortunately, I hurt my toe
and my mom wouldn’t let me help her. So
much for good intentions I suppose.
This year, like most years, we open a few present
the night before Christmas Eve because the next couple of days we will be
busy. Then we get up early Christmas
Eve morning and head out to my dad’s mom’s an hour and half away. We get to her house early and help her clean
and cook and stuff before everyone else gets there. So we are the first one’s there and then we usually stay until
way after dark and we are usually the last ones to leave. Nothing much happened
at my grandma’s except that there were a lot more people there than usually and
we had a couple of babies in the family for a change.
Christmas Day we get up fairly early to go to church. This year we got the mass schedule mixed up and ended up not going to church until 10 a.m. We were supposed to be at my cousin’s at 11 a.m. and my mother was not happy to say the least. Anyway, the mass was pretty nice. It was the last mass available for Christmas and wasn’t too crowded at all.
After mass we got into the car to go to my cousin’s
house less than a half a mile away when a strange thing happened. My dad went to start the car and the key
would not turn over. It was absolutely, positively stuck. We did everything we could think of to get
the key to turn over. We turned the key
around, used another set of keys, pushed as hard as we could, and even all
three of us got into the driver’s seat and tried to turn it over. Nothing worked.
My dad was getting frustrated and said he would walk
home (about a mile or so away to get our truck to come and get us). Now that was the last thing my mom and I
wanted him to do, so thank goodness I had the cellular phone. My said don’t you dare call anybody to help
us, but I didn’t listen to him and called anyway (good thing I don’t always
listen to my dad, eh?).
I called over at my cousin’s house and my uncle and
cousin were there in a flash. The only
thing they knew to do was to do everything we had already done. At this point I started unloading our car
and loading up the other car. Then when
my dad wasn’t looking, I believe my uncle pushed really hard, forcing the key
to turn over. On the last try it
finally turned over. Boy, we’re we ever
relieved. Now we were off to my
cousin’s house and ended up being the cow’s tail (the last ones there). We stayed there until about 6 p.m. and
finally made it home after Christmas. Then I had one task to do before my
Christmas would be complete.
For about three days I worked on
Chel’s Christmas present. I was cutting
it close on getting Chel’s present done, but I did. One of her presents was the entire fourth season of Scarecrow and
Mrs. King (borrowed from Tish, Thanks a lot Tish from the bottom of my heart J) which ended up being four six-hour
tapes. Then a week or so early I won
the first part of East of Eden off e-bay (now I don’t have the second
half).
I didn’t get this stuff in the mail until like three
or four days before Christmas. I ended
up dubbing the tapes while I was sleeping or away. One tape I ended up taping while I was at my grandma’s Christmas
Eve and another tape while I was at my cousin’s house Christmas Day (so far I
haven’t caused a fire or anything yet, thank goodness). When I finally got home from my cousin’s I
stuck in the East of Eden tape, the last tape to be dubbed.
I knew (and this really sucks) that
Chel had to work Christmas Day until 9 p.m.
I had the plan to get all her presents done and take them over to where
she worked before she went home. I also
had a few things for her boys and I figured Chel’s husband could sit down and
enjoy the Bruce tapes with her. I
called her around 8 p.m. or so and told her I was wrapping her fifth present
(five videos in all). She groaned and
said something like she wished I hadn’t gotten her that many things, but I told
her it was no big deal.
Off I went to the video store. I put on my Santa hat that has a glowing
ball on the end and walked into the store saying I was one of Santa’s helpers,
which Chel’s boys didn’t buy as they opened their yo-yos. One of them kind of liked it and the other
one didn’t, but I did the best I could.
Then I tried to pull Chel’s tapes out one tape out at a time in order. Of course her boys just dumped the tapes out
of the sack and that was the end of that.
Sometimes I don’t know what to think
of Chel. I mean I even told her a week
or so before Christmas I didn’t know what to do if her present didn’t come in
the mail. She would say something like
is it more SMK tapes and would say something like I don’t know what do you
think. I try to be real coy about what I’m getting Chel for her birthday or
Christmas. I usually frustrate her so
much she just gives up pestering me on what I’m getting her that she shuts up
until she finally opens her presents.
When all the wrapped up tapes were
on the table she was still kind of suspicious of what they were. Even her boys said they were tapes. I had her open the East of Eden tape
first. Of course she was ecstatic over
it, even though I only had the first half.
Then she proceeded to open the other tapes. I love to watch her open he presents and see her eyes sparkle
with delight. She didn’t know what to
say. I asked her if she knew what I was
getting her and she said she had no idea.
You’d think she’d know what I had up my sleeve by now (knowing the way I
am).
The day after Christmas I had to go back to
work. I got my New Years week schedule
and was not happy to say the least. I
had sent a note several weeks earlier asking to work early New Year’s Eve, but did I get an early shift? No! Instead I got a crudely shift (1:30
p.m.-8:30 p.m.) And then if that shift
wasn’t bad enough, I had to go in at 7 A.M. New Year’s Day! I was not a happy camper to say the least,
but I’m not one to complain usually, and if I do they usually say tough. Well, I tried to trade without successful
(surprise, surprise), so that meant that I couldn’t go out until late after a
got off work.
Another thing that happened the week after Christmas
was that my mother got really sick. She
ended up sick with a sinus infection, an earache, and probably a dose of the
flu rolled up into one. She was
literally laid up in bed for about a week or so until after the New Year. My dad was thrilled to say the least. He thought he could get some work done
around the house during his vacation, but instead he ended up cooking and cleaning
while my mom was sick and I was at work.
All of these things well small inconveniences that I
could deal with, but the next thing we had to deal with was not necessarily so
small. Right after Christmas my family
discovered water coming out into our hallway from our bathroom. My dad thought it was from the sink so he
turned off the sink to our one and only bathroom for a week. Talk about washing
your hands with a jug of water or going into the kitchen to wash your hands,
face, and teeth what an annoyance.
We soon discovered that there was still water coming
into our hallway after the sink was turned off, so our sink didn’t cause the
leak. Eventually, my father (the wise
man that he is after only a week without a bathroom sink) called a
plumber. Come to find out the drainpipe
to our bathtub was leaking or something or other (don’t ask me the details
cause I don’t know).
I wake New Year’s Eve to sound of a bunch of
racket. Come to find out it’s the
plumbers working to fix our bathtub at 8 a.m.
I just laid there in bed hiding in my room and talked on the phone for a
while. After some time I kind of needed to go to the bathroom. I decided to ‘hold it’ until the coast was
clear, but that wasn’t until almost noon. Talk about close calls. I
barely had time to eat lunch, wash my hair, and get a shower before work.
Work New Year’s Eve wasn’t quite as bad as I
thought. The first half of my shift was
busy to say the least. People were
either buying party stuff for that night or stocking up for Y2K (go
figure). The store died down about 7
p.m. or so that night and the store co-manager let me fill cigarettes, which
was a fairly easy task and made the time go by faster until I got off. Right on time I got off and headed home.
On my way home from work I noticed that my dash
lights in my car were going dim. I’ve
had plenty of trouble with the alternator in my car and I figured that was what
was wrong. When I turned onto my street
about ten feet from my driveway my car made a boom and just stopped right there
on my street. My dad ended up pushing
my car into the driveway. I wasn’t
exactly worried about my car right then because it was New Year’s Eve and I
just thought oh well more misery, what else is new.
I was going to go to Chel’s New Year’s Eve right
after work. At first my parents were
like, aren’t you going to spend the Millenium with us and I thought nope, I’m
going to a party. Now my mom had the
flu bug and my dad doesn’t party too much, so I spent about a half and hour or
so with them after I got home from work.
Since my car was deader than a doornail my parents told me to use their
car. At first I thought, no way, take
your car up in the country where Chel lives, but they insisted I take it so I
did.
Finally about 9:30 p.m., I made it to Chel’s
house. They were getting ready to pay a
game called “Taboo”, similar to “Password”, so I was just in time. A couple of funny things happened at Chel’s
party at midnight. First, off the only
person who could open the champagne was in the bathroom at midnight, so at five
after midnight we toasted with champagne and ate shrimp (yum, yum). Then there was Chel sitting in front of her
computer petting it and wishing it to survive the Y2K bug. I just stood there smiling and shaking my
head, but I was glad for Chel that her computer “Hal” lived to see the next
millenium.
I had heard some ‘stories’ about Chel’s New Year’s
Eve parties of the past and knew this party would probably last until the wee
hours of the morning. So I had the plan
to spend the night at Chel’s and then go to work early the next morning. In the end I finally decided to just stay up
the entire night, go to work early, and then go to bed that afternoon (a
brilliant idea, right?). So, we ended
up playing charades until 1 or 2 in the morning, then we played Jenga until 3
or 4 in the morning. Next I tried to
work on Chel’s web page from her computer, but it is so old and so slow it
would work right and I threw up my hands at about 5 a.m.
By about 4:30 a.m. the last guest had left. No one at the party got drunk (except maybe
for Chel (j/k)). At about 5:30 a.m. I
ate some breakfast (some cheese log and a brownie) and then decided it was time
for me to go home for a bit, maybe get a shower and some coffee. So at about quarter to six I headed out
towards my house.
What happened next was somewhat of a disaster to say
the least. Chel lives out in the
country and has a ditch in front of her driveway. I suppose because it was late (or really early) and I hadn’t
slept, I missed judged the driveway and drove my parents car into the
ditch. I thought oh hell, what am I
going to do.
Luckily for me Chel’s husband is a mechanic so he
finally pulled my parents car out of the ditch with his van. He looked it over and said there wasn’t any
damage to the car. Whew, did I breather
a sigh of relief. Then if that wasn’t
bad enough I lost my wallet. We looked
all over Chel’s house and driveway for it in the dark. I thought oh dear what else could go
wrong. Finally, we found it in the
floor of the inside of the car.
By the time this all happened it was quarter after
six until I left Chel’s and six-thirty before I made it home. My mom was pissed off to say the least. As soon as I worked in the door she was
cursing at me asking me where in the hell had I been? Now, I didn’t necessarily have
to tell my parents about their car, but since I’m an honest person I decided I
would. I put up my hands and told my
mother to chill out and let me explain to her what kind of morning I had
had. In the end, she sat there and
laughed at me and I thought it wasn’t really that funny (at least not at the
time).
I ended up just taking an old-fashioned spit bath
and throwing on my uniform for work. My
mom took me to work and would pick me up later when I got off. Now, New Year’s Eve the store co-manager
(who is one of my buddies at work and let’s me fill cigarettes) worked until
the store closed (11 p.m.) and was going to be there New Year’s Day bright and
early. I told him it was a little
ridiculous for anyone (especially me) to come in so early New Year’s Day and
that I would probably come in half asleep.
He said he didn’t care how I came in as long as I was there and
sober. He even said I could sleep on
the counter just as long as I was there.
So working with him New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day wasn’t too bad at
all.
Suffice to say very few people if any came into the
grocery store at 7 a.m. Those who did come had either stayed up all night or
were out of their minds. The whole day
I pretty much either walked around the store to try to stay awake or if I got
dog tired I would lay my head on the counter and groan. I felt pretty good for about an hour or so,
then I started feeling pretty tired.
Then during my first break I literally took a fifteen-minute nap and
during my second break I drank a cappuccino and ate a donut. We were pretty much dead the entire time I
was there and it was pretty boring.
Right on schedule, one of my parents (I don’t
remember which, things were getting pretty blurry by now) picked me up at 2
p.m. Now, Chel had to go to work at
noon New Year’s Day and so after her husband, Rick the mechanic, dropped her
off for work he was going to swing by my house to check out my car. He showed up a few minutes after I got home,
so I stayed up a bit longer to see what was going on. Then I finally went into the house and snoozed in an easy
chair. Finally, about 3:30 p.m. or so
New Year’s Day I went to ‘bed’. I slept
for a very long time. I got up like in
the middle of the night 1 a.m. or so and finally changed into my pajamas and
brushed my teeth and went back to bed.
I didn’t get up the next morning until 9 a.m. or so.
As I finish this story, I have finally got some
medicine for my stomach, my computer is now up and running smoothly, my toe is
pretty much healed, I survived my crappy shifts at work, and tomorrow I am
looking for a new car. In the end my New Year’s wasn’t necessarily bad just
adventurous. Maybe everything will work
out in the end for me in the twenty-first century J.
Just when I thought my luck has
improved a couple of things happened to make me wonder. First off my I had trouble we connected to
the Internet (what a pain in the butt).
Then once I did get back on
the net I got the flu bug (stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing, aching, etc.)
and was too sick to care whether I got on the computer or not.
I was so sick that I just laid there in bed not
wanting to watch TV, read, or anything.
I was even too sick to attend we first day of classes for my last
semester of college before I receive my bachelor’s degree. I took the miracle drug, NyQuil (a tip for
what to take when you get the crude
this year) and I am starting to feel much better now. I just hope Chel (who has the flu too) get better now.
I suppose if there is anything to be learned from
this story, it is the fact that all of our lives have peaks and valleys. As you can see, I went through a long line
of valleys through my 1999 holidays and survived them and I believe that will
continue to survive the rest of the valleys of my life too.