2004-12-26
What I Did Over Christmas Vacation
What I Did Over Christmas Vacation
By: Lauren Duncan
Thursday: Ran to Dothan with Mom, Chandler, and Cameron to do last-minute shopping. I helped Chandler pick out what to get James and I as a joint gift (he asked for guidance), and helped Cameron find a gift for James that he would not only like, but use. I got a TJ MAXX giftcard for James' brother. I found a humongous bone for Liger at PetSmart, and was tickled pink when I found out it was even bigger than the bone James got for his dog Lucky. I bought James a peacoat from Old Navy (I was so proud), and a large gourmet food basket for his parents. I picked up the new Evanescene cd for Chandler, as a congratulations gift for making honor cadet (he spent the last few months in a reformatory boot camp). I'd brought a pound of espresso beans from Javaology for my parents, and I bought them matching cappuccino mugs, and a nice decorative box to put it all in. I was very proud that I finally had money to at least buy nice presents for my family. I was freezing and exhausted by the end of the day, so I took the four of us to Dakota Coffee Works (not the branch I used to work at, but the one where shows and readings are held in Dothan), and was dismayed by their version of caramel mochas. That stuff was absolutely disgusting, and I couldn't drink it. It made me miss Willis and his obsession with doing everything perfectly and in a high-end way.
Friday, Christmas Eve: Was woken up early in the morning by Nicholas, the cat, pinging around the bedroom. I was staying in Chandler's room, and Nicholas kept climbing onto the top bunk, then jumping down, then running back up to do it all over again. I decided to just give up and get up. Was dismayed by the lack of beauty products in the shower since I moved out. Spent the day hanging out with the family, and three hours of it helping Mom wrap all the presents. Everything was finally done by evening. James came over and we "had Christmas" [that's the phrase Mom used the entire day and it infuriated me, pagan as I am. She used it to refer as giving and opening presents, but you can't have Christmas - it's Christ's birthday! Mom angrily ranted about how she's mad that the kids think of presents as the reason for Christmas, instead of remembering that Christ is the real reason, but then she
kept referring to opening presents as "having Christmas", which not only angered me as it's an incorrect term, but only misleads the kids more.] around 7 that evening.
James got Mom the new Jamie Oliver cookbook; she loved it, and Dad a Ford Fairlane model, which of course, he loved. My parents got him an Asian tea set with a set of decorative Asian tea cups (is James chinky or what?!) and I don't remember what else. Cameron got James a super cute chopstick set with geishas on them, someone got us a really cool oddly shaped black glazed plate with Chinese characters in red and white on it (not sure what it says), and Chandler got us a rice bowl set (with more chopsticks). Leighton got James a grow-your-own-four-leaf-clover kit, got me a Belly Dancing kit, and we got her a bamboo beaded curtain and another curtain thing with mod plastic circle cut outs in different colors; she wanted eclectic stuff for her room. We got the boys an XBox and two games; Fable (<333) and Halo, which they were ecstatic to get. I received about $150 total and an Allure subscription (finally!) from my parents, and a really cool mod-Asian looking parasol from Cameron. Mom also got me two different kinds of milk frothers for my coffee, which I really needed. I was stunned when I opened my gift from my "Aunt" Desiree; godmother as well as best friend. Not only did she send me a load of money as a pre-Christmas gift, but then the crazy and wonderful girl gave me gift cards to Target and Books A Million! If it weren't for James, I would totally marry that girl. She certainly has my heart, that's for sure (and not just because she gives me awesome gifts, either!).
For once, nobody complained that they didn't get a certain something they'd been hoping for (that person is usually my brother Cameron, who was very content and happy this year), and everyone was surprised and loved their gifts from each other. Since we'd had no time to prepare any food, we had pizza for dinner. After an hour or two of hanging out afterwards, I sent James packing so I could get some sleep, as I was happy, but exhausted.
Saturday, Christmas Day: Was awakened at three in the morning by Alexandra (the cat) on my knees, making them go dead, and a beeping phone. Apparently Alexandra wanted some loving attention, and my cousin Lloyd's cousin Allison had sent me a Merry Christmas text message.
Last weekend Lloyd invited James and I to a cocktail party he was going to. Allison came, too. The party was a flop, so we went gay bar hopping instead. It was a super fun night. I made a new friend; his name is Apple Martini. We went to one really nice gay bar called The Red Seat that was kind of exclusive and clique-ish (good thing I dressed up), then we went to a gay country western bar called Hoedowns. The apple martinis were better at The Red Seat than at Hoedowns, but it was still a lot of fun. I don't remember the leather bar that we went to afterwards as well as I remember the first two as I was a bit tipsy by that point, but it was fun and educational all the same, with a full leather store downstairs (Lloyd bought a whip while I eyed some leather wrist-to-elbow cuffs, and Allison looked interested in a gag). The night was awesome. James had fun, Lloyd is always fun to hang out with, and Allison was crazy and funny. We exchanged numbers to hang out sometime; apparently she loves to go the Claremont Lounge.
Back to Christmas - I woke up aching and with a sore throat. I often wake up aching since I sleep all weird, but then I realized it was not the way I slept, but the flu. I had a sore throat because the contents of my sinuses were running down my throat. I was miserable and took some medicine Mom suggested, but it had a weird effect on me and made me feel like I was drunk, high, or slightly both. Feeling even worse than I had originally, I went over to James' parents' house to have Christmas dinner with them. I got to see Liger for the first time since James' parents took him home with them while James was in the hospital - he's all grown up! He's still a puppy, but he is now huge, and very well behaved. I missed him so much that I almost started to tear up when I saw him. I love my dog.
James' parents loved the food basket, and Mikey (James' brother) liked his gift so much he gave me a big hug (a first since our days of going to junior high together, when he had a crush on me). When James was in the hospital, his parents gave us a $500 check to split between the two of us, as our Christmas presents. They really do like me a lot, that's for sure. The food was really good, and we had some awesome steaks. Afterwards, we all sat down to watch Napoleon Dynamite, Mikey's gift to James. As I've said before, good movie. When the movie was over, I hung out for a little while, then left to go hang out with my family. When I started to leave James' parents' house, James' dad offered me a cookie of some sort, but as I was sick (and sugar further weakens your immune system), I declined, and explained why. As soon as I said I wasn't feeling well, James' mom, ever the sweetheart, commented that I looked really tired and immediately gave me a box of TheraFlu to take with me. She really is very sweet. She also gave me some cabbage with carrots and meat and soy sauce to take to my family for dinner, which I was surprised by, but it made me happy.
Since Dad was working, I stopped by to visit him. While I was there, Heather (a girl that works there; apparently she and I went to junior high together, but I certainly don't remember her) asked me when I was going back to Atlanta. I told her I would be leaving tomorrow (today), and she asked why. I explained that I had to go back to work, and asked, "Why don't you just come back here and work here?" Thinking she was joking, I said, "Naw, that's okay." Not joking, she asked, "Why?" I told her I didn't particularly care for this area, and that it was boring to me. Very sincerely, she asked, "Well, aren't you afraid of getting robbed [in Atlanta]?" I looked at her incredously and said, "I am more afraid of being bored to death for the rest of my life. I would pick being robbed a few times over infinite boredom." She looked at my dad and said, "Lloyd, we don't have time to be bored, do we? We don't know what that is." Awestruck, I decided then it was time to leave. She is an illustration of why I simply could not live here anymore. She's a sweet, funny girl, but she can't fathom why anyone would want to live in what I'm sure she would refer to as a 'big old city' when they could live in Ozark or Enterprise, Alabama instead and have a career in nursing! Might I add that though she is my age, she looked much older. This, I think, is because she is about three times my size (which is admittedly not super tiny to begin with), seems to have no sense of fashion whatsoever (though I did like her Dr. Seuss scrubs and if I recall, her hair seemed mostly healthy, she looked like she didn't realize you were supposed to pay any attention to hair or makeup). As I was leaving, I asked Dad if he would mind picking up James when he got off work, so I wouldn't have to drive back through the sleet a few hours later. Dad didn't really feel like doing anything besides coming straight home, and jokingly suggested I hang out at WalMart in Ozark until it was time to pick James up, if I didn't want to hang out at his parents' house anymore. I pointed out that Walmart was closed since it was Christmas, and Dad, ever the comedian, gasped, grabbed the walls, and proclaimed he simply could not go on as long as Walmart wasn't open. Heather said (sincerely) that she didn't know what to do, since going to Walmart as soon as she got off work and spending hours late-night shopping was what she did every day, and loved it. I appreciated her sense of having a set schedule and her value of Walmart (it's a pretty great place, but Enterprise's is better, I swear), but it only set what I had already begun to think of her in stone. The next time someone asks me why I moved to Atlanta, I'm going to say, "Because I simply could no longer stand being surrounded by people with small town mindsets like YOU!" Honestly...!
I went home after I left the hospital, and though I had every intention of helping Mom cook Christmas dinner, I collapsed into my parents' bed instead, and slept for two hours. When I got up, Mom gave me a container of homemade candy ("tiger butter", and no, the tiger is not referring to Auburn University, but by the way it looks) to give to James' family from ours. It looks like our families might just get along after all. I drove through more sleet to pick up James, we came back to my house, had dinner, and he left. The entire time I was exhausted, and kept laying on James. I know he was aggravated that I wasn't more lively, but I felt really ill. He really is a pretty great guy.
Sunday, Boxing Day (Canada): I had originally intended to go to church with my parents this morning, and James was going to go with me. However, I woke up this morning around 3:30, sure I was going to throw up, thanks to all the mucous I was having to swallow. I tried to induce vomiting, which didn't work, and gargled some salt water to help my throat. I washed my face and noticed that I've become incredibly broken out since I am sick; I haven't been broken out this badly in quite some time. This, coupled with my somewhat recent weight gain and the fact that not only did I not feel well, but James wasn't going with me, made me decide not to go to church this morning. Call me what you like, but when people haven't seen you in a while, they do notice things like weight gain and pimples.
I woke up this morning feeling somewhat better, but still not great. I hung out with my Mom while she got ready for church, and Dad gave me a last minute gift; a recording of David Horton (one of my favorite ministers) preaching at our church, on cd. I was actually very pleased by the gift. Mom gave me another last minute gift, a Wonderfleur gift set (from meetmark.com) which I'd secretly wanted for some time.
Today I started my now-till-New-Years diet: little to no carbohydrates, and lots of fluid. Apparently that's what celebrities do to slim down before a major event, and since James bought me a killer outfit for New Years, I thought I'd try it out so I'd look extra fabulous. For breakfast I had ham and some tea. So far, so good. I realize that a diet like that in the long run is not very healthy, which is why, after New Years', I'm just going to eat MUCH healthier, as well as start taking multivitamins and actually work my (getting) fat ass out sometime. Incredible, I know. I have faith.
Now I have to go take a bath and get all packed up so I'll have some time to spend with my family when they get back before James and Liger whisk me back to Atlanta. It's actually been a nice trip, minus fighting with Chandler, being sick, and Mom being stressed out and therefore yelling at the kids. I wish I had more time to visit with friends (or time at all, for that matter), but I'm still glad I moved to Atlanta (not because of my friends, though).
Ahahahaha, I finally updated!
aigre-douce at 9:53 a.m.