Weekend wrap-up
Dec. 15th, 2008 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eee1313Friday night was the evening of the yearly office party. Originally the Scientist was supposed to work Friday night, and the idea of going alone seemed like a bummer. Considering most of my department didn't go and considering how clique-ish my office tends to be, I hated the idea of being the odd man out at the holiday party. So I chose not to go. When pressed, I just told people that I didn't feel comfortable going as I'm still relatively new, but that I'll go next year. So there you have it.
In the end the Scientist didn't end up working Friday night, so technically we could have gone. Instead, I went home to find that he made a HUGE batch of country-style ribs, which were wonderful. We had his brother G and his wife R over for dinner and then played a game of Settlers, which I did very well at for the first half of the game but then ended up losing anyway. Oh well. The headache I'd been carrying since that afternoon didn't go away, so I ended up heading off to bed early while the rest of them hung out.
Saturday morning I got up early, as I had an eye doctor appointment at 9:30. I hadn't been to the eye doctor in several years and I knew I needed new glasses. (My current pair hadn't had the prescription updated since 2004.) I was happy to discover that I did not need new contact lenses, as that prescription hasn't changed at all. So they just polished and cleaned my lenses and I was good to go on that front. Yay! As for my eyes themselves, my astigmatism is getting slightly better. However, since 2004 there's been a dark spot on my eyeball photos back near my macula and it hasn't changed. That's a good sign that it's not getting worse, but if the dark spot grows and changes it could be the early signs of macular degeneration. Right now my doctor isn't sure what it is, but seeing as how it hasn't changed since they first spotted it she thinks it could be a freckle. And how did I not know you can get freckles on the inside of your eyeball? Anyway, now I'm on fancy expensive vitamins for my eyes in the hopes that it's nothing to worry about in the first place, and if it is the vitamins should help. Finally, I got new glasses. I'm pretty certain I got this pair in wine. I ::heart:: them.
Then I came home and the Scientist and I made a run for baking goods. Saturday was COOKIE BAKING DAY at our house. We ended up doing a batch of lemon bars, cherry nut squares, magic cookie bars, and a double batch of cream cheese spritz cookies. We busted out the cookie press and made trees, wreaths, stars, flowers, weird little sorta-ornament looking things, etc. There was green, red, and white dough. There were sprinkles and colored sugars galore. I still need to make my Great-Grandma Solomon's Top of Stove cookies (melted dates and marshmallows mixed with nut meats and Rice Krispies, then rolled in coconut), a batch of key lime bars, and maybe another batch of cherry nut squares and some date bars. Anyway, by the time it was all over it was closing in on 6 pm and I was exhausted. We were thinking of going to see a movie, but we didn't have enough time to make it to the 7:00 showings. Instead we went out to grab food, but by the time that was over we didn't have enough time to make it to the 9:00 shows. So now I've promised to go see The Day the Earth Stood Still, because I was a putz on Saturday and dragged my feet and made the Scientist miss all the showings. We ended up coming home and watching TV (I honestly don't remember what) and then falling asleep.
Yesterday morning we got up early as we had a graduation to attend. The Scientist's youngest brother (S) graduated from NIU yesterday and the ceremony started a 9:00. I was ready to go by 7:00, which made me proud of myself. It was only once we were on the road that the Scientist informed me that we were ahead of schedule. I thought 7 was the latest we could leave, but it was actually 7:30. We ended up in DeKalb before anyone else in his family, which actually worked out well as we were able to grab a whole row of seats for people. It ended up being us two, his parents, GnR, his youngest sister, and his brother's girlfriend. Amazingly, S was right at the front of the pack of graduates. He was one of the first 10 to get his diplomas and we were able to tune out the rest of the ceremony. Hooray!
It was the most exciting graduation ceremony I've ever attended, though. First, one of the girls who was graduating got up just as the ceremony started, wobbled to the back of the floor where the graduates were seated, and then promptly fainted a few feet from the exit. There was an audible gasp from the crowd as she faceplanted onto the cement floor of the convocation center. She got up and wobbled back behind the curtained area where they had entered, and a worried father quickly rushed off to find out what happened to her. We were guessing she was either sick or hungover. Eventually she reappeared with a bottle of Sprite, only to find her row was on stage receiving their diplomas. She ran up to the stage, cut in line, and was able to walk on schedule. As soon as she was offstage, she made a beeline straight back to the curtained area.
The other exciting thing was that there was almost a fight in the audience. This one group of girls kept screaming for their friends when their names were called. Unlike some people who would whoop or yell briefly, these girls would keep screaming even after their friends were called and other graduates' names were announced. Of course, you couldn't hear the names of the people afterwards because the girls' screaming was so over the top. Eventually, two girls sitting behind the loud girls started exchanging words with them. You could see them gesturing angrily and shouting at one another, and eventually security was brought in to monitor them should there be another outburst or a fight started. Honestly, they were probably about a minute from brawling in the audience. AWESOME. So yeah, good entertainment for us.
After the ceremony we went out to breakfast, and then the Scientist and I headed back to the burbs. By the time we got home we had one hour to change clothes, take a quick nap, and then get ready to go to ACTION ADVENT!![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fishdoctorpost has done this for three years now, and this was the first year I could go. Just after we arrived FDP's friend Theo left, so it was just the three of us. We watched Lethal Weapon, which I had actually never seen before. taraljc showed up near the end of that one, and once aj arrived we started on Die Hard. Now, I've seen that movie in chunks many, MANY times, but I have never seen it uncut and in one sitting. It is AWESOME. I can't believe we don't own Die Hard, because it is just that awesome. So anyway, Action Advent was great, and it was wonderful to see all three ladies again. And FDP gave the Scientist and I some lovely ornaments as a Christmas gift, and I think we forgot them over by her futon. D'oh! They'll have to go on the tree next year, then. :( But still, it was a good night no matter what.
We gaveaj a lift home and grabbed a HUGE slice of pizza at the pizza joint on her corner. It was already raining pretty well by the time we left there, and the drive home was sucky. What was more sucky is that the temperature dropped 30+ยบ overnight, which meant all that rain turned to ice on the roads. Bah. Luckily my drive to work is almost all highways, so things were pretty clear. It still took me an extra 15 minutes to get here, though.
Tonight is all about putting my light-up Christmas village together. Then I will take pictures to share with you. Oh yes.
In the end the Scientist didn't end up working Friday night, so technically we could have gone. Instead, I went home to find that he made a HUGE batch of country-style ribs, which were wonderful. We had his brother G and his wife R over for dinner and then played a game of Settlers, which I did very well at for the first half of the game but then ended up losing anyway. Oh well. The headache I'd been carrying since that afternoon didn't go away, so I ended up heading off to bed early while the rest of them hung out.
Saturday morning I got up early, as I had an eye doctor appointment at 9:30. I hadn't been to the eye doctor in several years and I knew I needed new glasses. (My current pair hadn't had the prescription updated since 2004.) I was happy to discover that I did not need new contact lenses, as that prescription hasn't changed at all. So they just polished and cleaned my lenses and I was good to go on that front. Yay! As for my eyes themselves, my astigmatism is getting slightly better. However, since 2004 there's been a dark spot on my eyeball photos back near my macula and it hasn't changed. That's a good sign that it's not getting worse, but if the dark spot grows and changes it could be the early signs of macular degeneration. Right now my doctor isn't sure what it is, but seeing as how it hasn't changed since they first spotted it she thinks it could be a freckle. And how did I not know you can get freckles on the inside of your eyeball? Anyway, now I'm on fancy expensive vitamins for my eyes in the hopes that it's nothing to worry about in the first place, and if it is the vitamins should help. Finally, I got new glasses. I'm pretty certain I got this pair in wine. I ::heart:: them.
Then I came home and the Scientist and I made a run for baking goods. Saturday was COOKIE BAKING DAY at our house. We ended up doing a batch of lemon bars, cherry nut squares, magic cookie bars, and a double batch of cream cheese spritz cookies. We busted out the cookie press and made trees, wreaths, stars, flowers, weird little sorta-ornament looking things, etc. There was green, red, and white dough. There were sprinkles and colored sugars galore. I still need to make my Great-Grandma Solomon's Top of Stove cookies (melted dates and marshmallows mixed with nut meats and Rice Krispies, then rolled in coconut), a batch of key lime bars, and maybe another batch of cherry nut squares and some date bars. Anyway, by the time it was all over it was closing in on 6 pm and I was exhausted. We were thinking of going to see a movie, but we didn't have enough time to make it to the 7:00 showings. Instead we went out to grab food, but by the time that was over we didn't have enough time to make it to the 9:00 shows. So now I've promised to go see The Day the Earth Stood Still, because I was a putz on Saturday and dragged my feet and made the Scientist miss all the showings. We ended up coming home and watching TV (I honestly don't remember what) and then falling asleep.
Yesterday morning we got up early as we had a graduation to attend. The Scientist's youngest brother (S) graduated from NIU yesterday and the ceremony started a 9:00. I was ready to go by 7:00, which made me proud of myself. It was only once we were on the road that the Scientist informed me that we were ahead of schedule. I thought 7 was the latest we could leave, but it was actually 7:30. We ended up in DeKalb before anyone else in his family, which actually worked out well as we were able to grab a whole row of seats for people. It ended up being us two, his parents, GnR, his youngest sister, and his brother's girlfriend. Amazingly, S was right at the front of the pack of graduates. He was one of the first 10 to get his diplomas and we were able to tune out the rest of the ceremony. Hooray!
It was the most exciting graduation ceremony I've ever attended, though. First, one of the girls who was graduating got up just as the ceremony started, wobbled to the back of the floor where the graduates were seated, and then promptly fainted a few feet from the exit. There was an audible gasp from the crowd as she faceplanted onto the cement floor of the convocation center. She got up and wobbled back behind the curtained area where they had entered, and a worried father quickly rushed off to find out what happened to her. We were guessing she was either sick or hungover. Eventually she reappeared with a bottle of Sprite, only to find her row was on stage receiving their diplomas. She ran up to the stage, cut in line, and was able to walk on schedule. As soon as she was offstage, she made a beeline straight back to the curtained area.
The other exciting thing was that there was almost a fight in the audience. This one group of girls kept screaming for their friends when their names were called. Unlike some people who would whoop or yell briefly, these girls would keep screaming even after their friends were called and other graduates' names were announced. Of course, you couldn't hear the names of the people afterwards because the girls' screaming was so over the top. Eventually, two girls sitting behind the loud girls started exchanging words with them. You could see them gesturing angrily and shouting at one another, and eventually security was brought in to monitor them should there be another outburst or a fight started. Honestly, they were probably about a minute from brawling in the audience. AWESOME. So yeah, good entertainment for us.
After the ceremony we went out to breakfast, and then the Scientist and I headed back to the burbs. By the time we got home we had one hour to change clothes, take a quick nap, and then get ready to go to ACTION ADVENT!
fishdoctorpost has done this for three years now, and this was the first year I could go. Just after we arrived FDP's friend Theo left, so it was just the three of us. We watched Lethal Weapon, which I had actually never seen before. taraljc showed up near the end of that one, and once aj arrived we started on Die Hard. Now, I've seen that movie in chunks many, MANY times, but I have never seen it uncut and in one sitting. It is AWESOME. I can't believe we don't own Die Hard, because it is just that awesome. So anyway, Action Advent was great, and it was wonderful to see all three ladies again. And FDP gave the Scientist and I some lovely ornaments as a Christmas gift, and I think we forgot them over by her futon. D'oh! They'll have to go on the tree next year, then. :( But still, it was a good night no matter what. We gave
aj a lift home and grabbed a HUGE slice of pizza at the pizza joint on her corner. It was already raining pretty well by the time we left there, and the drive home was sucky. What was more sucky is that the temperature dropped 30+ยบ overnight, which meant all that rain turned to ice on the roads. Bah. Luckily my drive to work is almost all highways, so things were pretty clear. It still took me an extra 15 minutes to get here, though.Tonight is all about putting my light-up Christmas village together. Then I will take pictures to share with you. Oh yes.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 05:20 pm (UTC)I'm also wondering now where you're from. I used to live near DeKalb (about 20 minutes north of it, in Rockford).
no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-15 06:53 pm (UTC)