A Pirate? Horror!

It is the end of a long 4-day weekend for me, starting Friday with my 29th birthday. Went out with some friends that evening. Drank a lot. Got annoyed because some people were all, "I can't mix my liquor," so I was all "I can only mix my liquor." Paid the price to carry out that charade, I tell you what. Daiquiris + Chardonnay + Miller Lite + Sex on the Beach + Rum & Coke= icky tummy the next morning. Met a pilot who I kept insisting was a pirate. He didn't think I was too witty. Perhaps it was the absence of brandy on my list of drinks.

Saturday morning my mom flew in. Dad stayed in IL with a nasty cough and headache. Went to Meg's Christmas show in the evening. It was wild. Meg slipped on her big yellow dress and fell on her bum during one number, then later came out with only one shoe buckled. That one was a high-kick number and we were all in the second row, maybe 20 feet from the loose shoe. Terrifying. Then I looked over and Lucy was drinking. No, slurping out of a flask. What a family!
Overall, the show was fun and it was good to see Meg performing again. She'll be choreographing a production of High School Musical next.

Sunday I drove mom to the airport, cleaned up my house a bit, played some numbers from Hairspray (Meg gave me the sheet music for my birthday), went on a run, changed the sheets on my bed, and watched the finale of Survivor.

Went on another run today, and the weather was finally great! It was almost 30 degrees, sunny, and not windy. I even heard birds chirping. It felt like spring! Unfortunately with the roads so clear, drivers decided to speed it up and I almost got hit twice in the last 1/4 mile. I have never really been in any danger running on the roads, but today shook me up a bit. I think I may stick to running around lakes for awhile. Why, oh why, aren't there any sidewalks?

Christmas Songs

There are definitely a few Christmas songs that I love to hear as well as some that I absolutely cannot stand. Here are my lists so far. What do you think?

Favorite Christmas Songs
Mariah Carey: "All I Want For Christmas Is You"
The Chipmunks: "Christmas Time Is Here"
Celine Dion: "O Holy Night"
Elvis: "Blue Christmas"
Anything sung by the Carpenters

Worst Christmas Songs
"The Holiday Season" (Happy Holidays - Happy HOLidays - Happy Holidays - Happy HOLidays ...)
Anything sung by Michael Crawford. It's just creepy.
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
Bing Crosby and David Bowie duet: "The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth"
"Feliz Navidad"
Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" (simmmm-PLY, HAV-ing, a wonderful Christmas time.)
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" (except the Muppet version)

"As my Great Aunt Gert used to say, 'This smells funny. And I'm not going to eat it.'"

So here's a first for me: my power went out in the middle of the night and my alarm didn't go off. I took it as a sign and called work to say I wouldn't be in today. Thank goodness I'm still in orientation and my not being there doesn't matter a hill of beans to anybody.

Life in the ER has been pretty interesting. I am slowly understanding how things work down there and what my role is. My brain has been on overdrive lately, though. I find myself asking questions all the time. So much so that I haven't felt comfortable making a decision on my own, even outside the hospital. For instance:

-Should I pay $4 and rent a video at this place, or drive a little farther and pay $1?

-Do I have to eat this yogurt by the 'Use By' date and will I get sick if I eat it 2 weeks later?

-Is it ok to crank my heat up to 68 degrees when I'm not home just so it will be warm when I get home?

All those petty little questions that pop up seem really important until I snap out of it and see how ridiculous I am.

I've been running a bit. Not frequently. It's been a little chilly, but the real problem has been the lack of plowing/shoveling. My streets are still snow-covered 2 days after the last snow, and West St. Paul has a serious lack of sidewalks. This is about the time of year I toss around the idea of joining a gym. But then I come to my senses and remember that I cannot stand driving over to a gym, the fees, the pressure to do more than just run, etc.

Donna and I did do the 5K Reindeer Run around Lake Harriet last weekend. It was snowy and freezing cold, but very fun! (I realize this picture is silly, but I didn't have my camera on the actual run, and when we got back to our cars it was too darn cold and snowy to worry about the background of the picture.)

Just about all of my Christmas shopping is done! Yesterday, the UPS man delivered the last of the stuff I ordered online. What a relief! I'm always worried it won't get here on time.

That's all for now. I'll try to go to work tomorrow!