A WEARY WORLD REJOICES

"A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn."

Merry Christmas, everyone.
It is a weary world, indeed. But we have the hope of Christ! And I celebrate the day that He was born to die.

PLANES, TRAINS, AND MORE PLANES

Can you guess what state I was in on Thursday, Dec. 20th?

a. California
b. Oregon
c. Idaho
d. Washington

Well...
...

This was a trick question.

The answer was "e", for "all of the above".

In an airline debacle that I will not soon forget, I was routed from LAX to San Jose (CA), to Boise ID, to Seattle WA, to Portland OR. All in one glorious day. I woke up at 3:30 am, was supposed to be Portland by 10:30 am and didn't get into Oregon til 4pm. I was very tired and VERY fussy by the time I arrived. Oh, and they managed to break one of the wheels off my bag.

However, beer and wine is free on Horizon flights. So that was awesome. But I didn't figure out that perk til the very last flight I was on. Bummer.

Anyway, I made it. And I'm quite happy to be here. I've already been snow-shoeing, thrift store shopping (got some great martini glasses), I've cuddled with the kitten, cuddled with baby bunnies, baked sugar cookies, and slept a lot. Oregon is awesome.

PICS!

Here's a few photos (compliments of Andy Barron) of the 826 event!


1. Th' Time Travel Store!



2. Mister Norton, looking smashing with specks of gray.



3. Bartendin'



4. Lil Brudder (aka Brandon) on door patrol.

Holy smokes, what a busy week.

I thought my week was bad, and then the weekend was worse. I threw a dance/Christmas party on Friday night, volunteered at an 826 LA Party on Saturday night, and saw Magic Lantern on Sunday night. In between those things I baked a triple batch of shortbread, finished my Christmas shopping, played Balderdash with the Bryants, went to church, went to the WESC sample sale (and got a winter coat!) and managed to get most of the roommate Christmas cards mailed out.

(Side note: for those of you who don't know, 826LA is Dave Eggers non-profit organization that focuses on tutoring kids in Creative Writing. They just opened a new tutoring center and Time Travel Store in Echo Park on Saturday, and I was fortunate enough to be the bartender for the event.)

Highlights:

1. Meeting Dave Eggers. Having Dave Eggers personally thank me for volunteering with 826LA. Having Dave Eggers remember who I was later in the night and thank me again.

2. Serving Edward Norton a Ginger Ale. Having Edward Norton apologize to me profusely for only having Canadian money.

3. Pictures with Santa at the Magic Lantern show - I got the latest Cure album on Vinyl as my gift! And th' Lantern sounded awesome.

4. Giving Jenny Lewis a pep talk before she went onstage, as she was terribly nervous. She's really little and really nice.

Lowlights:
1. Knowing that Jason Bateman was at the 826 LA event, but never seeing his lovely face.

2. I got an average of 5 hours a sleep a night. Result: I'm sick. ug.

Overall, an amazing weekend.
I AM SO TIRED.
Thankfully, Portland is just around the corner.
I'm out of here on Thursday, kiddos!

THREE THINGS

1. Going on a cruise to Mexico today! I'll be back on Monday. Adios!





2. Militia Group Christmas party with Free Peroni on the 14th. Its free! Come!





3. I cut my hair off. And I like it. (Sorry for the cheesy mirror photo, its all I've got!)