Christmas, the Komets, and the Matrix

Christmas was a pretty low-key affair for us again this year. There was a Christmas Eve service at church that we all went to (even Natalie), and Saturday (Christmas) we did our family gift opening in the morning like usual. The kids got me a Family Feud game (Missy), a BBQ apron and a universal socket  (Nat), and a Digipen t-shirt (Alex). They got the usual suspects: Alex got games and Pop figures, Missy got Pop figures and fangirl stuff (Labyrinth, especially), and Nat got clothes and accessories, and assorted other stuff for all. Good hauls all around, I thought, and they all seemed very happy with it. Beth also got the yearly glass ornament from Warsaw Cut Glass, and I’m getting her a new Keurig (with a promise to go out for coffee much less next year). 

I am officially boosted. Beth and I both got our covid boosters this week, me on Tuesday and Beth on Wednesday. No big reactions for either of us, but both of us felt tired and meh for about a day afterwards. 

Wednesday Beth and I went and got our new half cow. There was still a lot of beef left over from last year’s cow so we gave a lot of it away to folks we know that could really use it. But it seemed that this year’s cow was quite a bit smaller than usual. Not sure exactly but we seemed to get a lot less than we usually do, or maybe last year’s cow was unusually large. It sure looks like we didn’t get nearly the same amount of steaks as we normally do. 

Thursday Beth and the kids and I went up to Michigan for the day to visit with Marve and Beth. We met them for lunch at University Roadhouse over by WMU, which none of us had ever been to, but is really good. We exchanged presents and afterwards went to their house to visit for a while, and played Farkle until it was time to go. 

Friday all of us (except Alex) went out to see the new “Matrix” movie sequel. It was cool but I still don’t think it really was a sequel that needed to be made. The kids were a bit confused because they weren’t as familiar with the 2nd and 3rd Matrix movies, and Beth and I both thought it was pretty derivative and ok but not great. While we were seeing that, Alex went with his friends at the same time. He had been hanging out with them at a coffee house and playing games at our house all day, and they all went to see the same movie at the same time as the rest of us, but just not together. He also said later he was a bit lost because of not being as familiar with the sequels. 

We all went to Fort Wayne to see the Komets game tonight. A really good game, too. Playing the last-place Indy Fuel, the Komets never trailed in the game and led by as much as 5-1. But they let the Fuel stay in the game to the point where near the end of regulation, the Fuel got on a power play AND pulled their goalie and looked like they might just tie it up. But the Komets got the empty netter with only seconds left (although they nearly missed it) to put it away and won 6-4. A really fun game.

The Beach Boys, Spiderman, and my Colon

Beth and I gave out Christmas presents to each other yesterday. Instead of normal Christmas presents, we went to a concert at Honeywell Center in Wabash. She just a couple weeks ago heard a commercial for the Beach Boys performing a holiday concert, so we got tickets to that for each other (mostly me getting them for both of us). We both thought it was funny that we were the youngest couple there (by far, in most cases), or at least anywhere around us. But it was a really good show. I enjoyed it more than I had thought I would; I like the Beach Boys well enough but I’ve never been a huge fan, but we had a lot of fun singing and clapping along with all the songs that everyone knows by heart. One lady moved away from us after intermission, probably because Beth annoyed her by dancing in her seat. Anyway, they opened with all the surfing songs and over the course of the show did everything else. Neither one of us could think of a single song that we knew that they didn’t do. And “Sloop John B” is stuck in my head now.

Monday was my first colonoscopy! The entire staff at the hospital told me that I had done the hard part already with the preparations…and they were right. Although I would describe the internal effects of the prep to be more of a power wash than a flush, but anyway. The procedure was a little earlier than scheduled because of a cancellation (I was just about ready for them to call and say they had to delay the procedure because of the current covid surge, but nope) but still was in the afternoon (which meant that I was pretty hungry after being forcibly emptied, and nothing by mouth since midnight). But when they finally wheeled me in the OR, one doctor pushed a little syringe of something. About a second later I said “whoa, I’m already feeling dizzy.” He said “Just shut your eyes.” So I did. And I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up. I had no idea how long I’d been out: Beth said around 20 minutes, but if she’d said 2 minutes or 12 hours I would have believed her. I don’t remember the doctor talking to us afterwards at all (Beth said I was still pretty out of it), but it looked good enough that I don’t have to do another one of those for 10 years. 

We took everyone out to see “Spiderman: No Way Home” on Friday. We saw the 7:30 showing, or I guess one of them because it was on several screens. I have not seen a theater packed like that in a long time, even before covid. Nobody but the kids and I were masked, either. I did look around at one point and wonder if it was a good idea to be there, but we weren’t going to miss it. It was absolutely incredible. And the audience was really into it. So many cheers, like when Daredevil was introduced, and all the previous Spidermen showed up. Some people were saying not only the best Marvel movie ever, but maybe the best movie ever. I don’t know, but I think it’s certainly the best superhero movie ever, and maybe the best movie experience ever. I mean, wow. Can’t wait for the new Dr. Strange movie!

Natalie has finished high school! As of Friday, her last day. Beth and I are not sure about what we’re supposed to do now – the graduation ceremony is in Indianapolis but we don’t really know when, and Nat doesn’t want to go anyway. She’s still enrolled in Ivy Tech to continue to become a CNA but we don’t know when that starts or how long it goes or what we have to pay for it. Nat doesn’t know much about that either. We’re going to have to find a few things out. And make a plan for her next act. We’re hoping everything works out with that, but not sure if her POTS will allow a full time job. Not sure what to do regarding that either.

Alex is home! Alex is home! Back from a seemingly successful first semester at college. He told us he didn't do very well on a couple of his exams, but he always says stuff like that, and he seemed to be doing fine otherwise all semester. Anyway, Beth's and my friend Scott who lives out in Seattle was able to pick him up at his apartment and deliver him to the airport on Saturday morning, and he got in to Chicago Midway around 8 pm. Beth and Missy and I drove in to the airport to pick him up. He was a bit nervous about navigating the airport by himself, and he had to change planes in Denver, but he got everything figured out and arrived with no problem. He'll be home until the 30th, which is a few days earlier than necessary, because the return flights were so much cheaper then than they were about any other day after.  

I’ve spent the day today getting ready for a colonoscopy. And staying close to home and a bathroom. They’ve got a very specific schedule of things to do, and lots of laxative stuff to take, and it does get you really cleaned out. That’s all I’ll say about that.

 Missy is a future Cardinal! She got the email last Tuesday that she has been accepted to Ball State U! SO cool. We just got the application in maybe a week and a half ago so that is awesome! She's pretty excited. Now to figure out how to pay for it....ha ha! Not only will she be about 2000 miles closer than Alex, she will be doing college for about 2000 miles cheaper, too...

Beth's second (probably final) soup show was the Wawasee craft fair on Saturday. It was kind of weird, it seemed to Beth that it was slower than previous years, traffic was lighter, and we didn't do as well. However when we totaled everything up we had sold about 115 jars...which makes that our best show ever. I actually thought we were doing really well during the show, but I didn't know that we'd beat our best show to date. So now I just need to total things up and we'll see if we have any money for Christmas this year.