#65 – Watch a movie with Dave once a week (6 weeks).

This is another of my goals that I actually completed before the end of the year.  It all started when I was sick and watched a lot more movies…instead of…you know…cleaning the house or going to work.

You may ask why I had to actually make this a goal.  I know that most people watch a movie at least once a week.  I don’t though, and I know that Dave wishes I would watch more movies with him,  so that’s why it was on the list.

Last summer when we were in LA visiting Dave’s family, my mother-in-law pushed me for an answer about what my favorite movie is.  I fumbled on my response.  Honestly, I have never been a big movie person.  It’s true that I don’t actually have an all time favorite movie.  I’ve tried to think about why this is.  I can watch hours of mindless cable without blinking, but watching a movie…I don’t know.  Maybe I have a short attention span.  Maybe I didn’t watch enough movies as a kid.  Maybe I like my entertainment to be in the form of mindlessness that can be turned off at any time.  Who knows?

So the movies that Dave and I watched together over 6 weeks include…Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, Gattaca, Paranormal Activity, The Village and Up.  I promise…I stayed awake for all of them.

Oh, and speaking of the cable, we did cancel it in December.  I have been reduced to watching crappy network sitcoms and public television.  I am still going through serious withdrawal.

#51 – Read a science fiction book.

I have actually completed a handful of the things on my “To Do” list recently, all of which I will write about shortly.

I had never read a genuine honest to goodness science fiction book before, and Dave challenged me to do so.  That’s why this goal made the list.

First, I chose to read The Invisible Man, by H.G. Wells, because I had actually heard of H.G. Wells, Wikipedia referenced it as one of the original science fiction works and, I’ll be honest, I was browsing the book store in my office building one day and I noticed how short it was.  Dave told me it didn’t count…no spaceships!!

My second choice, after realizing the spaceship criteria, was Ender’s Game.  Another quick search online revealed it as a quintessential spaceship science fiction book.  Turns out that Dave had recently read the same book.  Shame on me for not actually caring what he was reading, just lumping all of his selections into the evil category of science fiction.  But there it was, we already owned a copy of the book.

So, I read it, and it was good.  Not like John Steinbeck good, but I did honestly enjoy reading it.  It had lots and lots of spaceships in it, and it was well written and entertaining…until the big plot twist…which I read standing up on a Chicago Avenue bus one day and it made me want to put the book down and give up on my goal all together.  I won’t reveal the plot twist, but I will say that I didn’t see it coming and I really kind of hated the book and gave up on it for a couple days.  But I did go back and finish the book.  In retrospect, I would give the book 3 out of 5 stars.

Anyhow, something that struck me in reading this book are the similarities between science fiction and the scary horror books that I always enjoy.  Stephen King is one of my favorite authors.  He is known for the dramatic, the inappropriate and the gruesome.   But often times his books have an element of fantasy or, quite honestly, science fiction.  I didn’t fully appreciate this until I read a genuine honest to goodness science fiction book.

Turns out our interests in reading aren’t that different after all.

This is why my work clothes are constantly covered in cat hair.   We found Moxie sleeping on Dave’s clean shirt when we came back to fold the next load of laundry.  Dave put the T-shirt on top of her…funny thing is she actually stayed napping like this for another 30 minutes or so.

Guess Moxie was cold.

Not being in Chicago for Christmas this year didn’t stop us from getting our own tree.  And thanks to our parents who collected and kept safe all of the ornaments from our childhood, we were able to decorate the tree with great memories.

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas.

Dave and I spent Christmas in Indiana with my family.  All six siblings, plus their respective significant others were in town, which is a rare occurrence.  As you can see, my parents purchased a very large tree to celebrate the occasion.  Having everyone together was crazy, and lots of fun.  We maintained our sanity by staying at a hotel.

We celebrated New Year’s Eve in Chicago with my sister Amy and her husband, my sister Maggie who is staying with us for a while, and my brother Michael.  Maggie helped me make cabbage rolls for dinner, and Michael hosted the party with champagne toasts and everything.  We actually spent most of the evening in a very heated game of Settlers of Catan.  We did, however, take a break to properly ring in the midnight hour.

All told, the holidays were busy and great.  It was really wonderful to visit with my whole family.  Insults were flying the whole week, of course, but no one ended with a black eye,  so I’m going to call the holidays a success overall.

Happy New Year!