My life according to Godsmack

Pick your Artist:
Godsmack

Are you a male or female:
Mama

Describe yourself:
I Am

How do you feel:
Safe and Sound

Describe where you currently live:
Situation

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Moon Baby

Your favorite form of transportation:
Trippin'

Your best friend(s)?
Vampires

You and your best friends:
No Rest for the Wicked

What’s the weather like:
One Rainy Day

Favorite time of day:
Awake

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called:
Someone in London

What is life to you:
The Journey

Your relationship:
The Awakening

Your fear:
Stress

What is the best advice you have to give:
Now or Never

Thought for the Day:
I Thought

How I would like to die:
Time Bomb

My soul’s present condition:
Serenity

My motto:
I Stand Alone

Potentially Hilarious "Party", Sunday Barbeque Destruction?

Had fun at Yael's dinner last night, met some new people (finally!) and got invited to a party tonight. Yay for filling blanks on my calendar! I was initially skeptical because the party is one of those things where your friends invite you and it turns out to be like... a presentation on some company.... this is hard to explain, but like a Tupperware party, right? Like you go for a purpose and it's not just hanging out. And for this one they're going to try to sell us makeup. Oh well. Not really into makeup, but I know I'm going to be bored out of my skull tonight if I stay in (Jared is leaving for Ridgefield after work, which means Stacey won't be over, either) and maybe I can laugh about it later. Also, it's only 2 hours. Not bad.

**Edit** The address is in Queens. Not sure if I want to go by myself looking for a place I've never been to in the dark. I'll ask Yael if she's going, and if not, then it's a no-go.

The weather looks sheisty at the exact time of the scheduled barbeque:
Sunday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after noon. Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. South wind between 9 and 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
So there's talk of cancelling. Some people can't do Saturday, which of course is going to be gorgeous. There's still a chance the forecast will change, so I think we're going to wait it out until Saturday night to decide. THIS is why you don't schedule things 6 weeks in advance, people!

Oh well... at least I got my chill time with Chris all sorted out.

Changes!

These past couple weeks have been ones more of action than inaction (which is why I feel the need to write here now, instead of before, which would have garnered a boring onslaught of sameness), a welcome change to the monotonous routine of work, exercise, sit, sleep. We went on vacation, which I have already discussed far too much of and posted far too many pictures of, so no more mention of that here. Changes and otherwise exciting events that occurred between the return and now:
- Got my hair cut drastically shorter
- Bought a bunch of new, smarter-looking work clothes to wear
- Began wearing heels much more often (read: actually wearing them at all) to work; getting some of them worn in so they don’t hurt as much
- Went home for the entire weekend to see au pair and her family
- Got Jillian’s phone number, so now I can stay in closer contact, which Conway loves
- Spent some quality sibling time with Mark
Monday: Sabine, Rüdiger, Paul and Tim were in the city, we met up after work; showed them my apartment and went out to dinner. Next time I’ll see them…? Paul will be a teenager… :O

Tuesday: Went to see Harry Potter (by myself!) which turned out rather good, relaxing, and a magnificent waste of time that otherwise would have been spent sitting at home and doing nothing

Wednesday: Epic battle with the New York Public Library. Details include: their not having any books that I want, and the ones they do have are in obscure branches out in the boonies and will ship in no quicker than a month; most of their copies are hardcover and huge, making it hard to carry more than 4 at a time (I got out 6 – probably a mistake); waiting in a 50-person line for circulation; being the next one in line when they underwent a shift change, aka a 5 minute period when no one was getting helped; them being pissy about using Adam’s card; them being pissy about me not having something with my “current address”… at least they held my books for me while I wasted an hour going home and getting a letter and bringing it back again. So, you can see, rather epic.

Tonight: Going out to celebrate Yael’s birthday! Dinner and drinks at Havana Central, for which I am trying to decide whether to wear heels or not (see above)

Friday night: Undecided, threatening to be the one night with nothing to do, since Jared is leaving. May return shoes to DSW for lack of anything more stimulating.

Saturday: Going home, meeting up with Chris?

Sunday: Barbeque at Jared’s with Stacey, Jessie, Rob, Marc, Heather… fun!

And then it gets a little fuzzy, so I have to think of some more stuff.

Also, soon to come: Since I’ve gotten a few books from the library and plan on getting the ones I want shipped to Mid-Manhattan, I think I’m going to start a running commentary/review system (purely for my benefit, since a) almost nobody reads this and b) only one of those who read this I know is into fantasy...) that I hope will keep up my writing skills and also be a little bit fun, like filling out quizzes for the characters/writing style/plot, etc.

Watch out for it!

Years Past

I am copying you, yes. But I liked this one!

Grade School

Where did you attend grade school? Ridgebury Elementary School

Who was your principal? Mr. Monty – he STILL recognizes me and remembers my name, some 20-odd years later.

Who was your best friend in 3rd grade? Stephanie Demers, Lauren Marker, Andy Murdoch …

What was a memory you have from Kindergarten? When Patrick Mott stabbed me in the arm with a plastic fork because I didn’t have any fake money to pay for the fake apple at the fake store so I just grabbed it. He took that personally, being the fake cashier at the fake store.

Sixth Grade? Eating Jolly Ranchers while practicing writing 5 paragraph essays – can never have another Jolly Rancher without thinking: intro, supporting 1, supporting 2, supporting 3, conclusion!

Seventh Grade? I think I did the Germany exchange trip in 7th… not sure. But if so, then woooo Oktoberfest in Ingelheim!

Eighth Grade? Climbing the rock wall in the side gym, and one kid not paying attention when he was supposed to belay and letting the person fall. They trusted us too much, sometimes.

Who did you have a crush on during Elementary years? Chris and Andy… there’s a “Chris + Chris” sign written in crayon on my basement stairs, and I went on my first conceivable date-like thing with Andy to the fair.W

hy did you like that person? Chris was cute and funny, things he still hasn’t grown out of, and Andy was very cute and smart.

Do you still like them? Do you still think of them? Chris is my friend/sometimes confidante/former boss – have random IM, facebook and phone conversations now and then; Andy changed a lot, went to a different school and I haven’t talked to him in years.

Who did you have a crush on in middle school? Lots of stupid little ones, and none that I would ever actually want to follow up on – I’d figured out by then that most of the guys in my grade from the other elementary schools were jerks.

Why did you like that person? Attractiveness factor only

Do you still like them or think of them? Absolutely not

What was one of your favorite songs in middle school? Probably some Backstreet Boys thing… *grin

What was the ultimate crush song in middle school? Stairway to Heaven.

Did you go to a lot of the dances in middle school? Yes, but it was mostly for the food and running around outside the gym where the actual dance was going on. That was much more fun than standing there, mortified, as someone else tried to physically drag you across the room to dance with someone else.

What was your favorite field trip in middle school? Sturbridge Village – we got to smell all the farm animals and churn butter for a day! or the Maritime Center – we got to go on a boat and then touch slimy ocean creatures!

Who was your best friend(s) in middle school? Allison Schnidman and Stephanie Mower

Do you still talk to any of them? Was friends with Allison through high school, then she went to Johns Hopkins and it died off… Stephanie, didn’t see her too much in high school, kind of ended there.

Have you seen them recently? No, Allison is going to live in London and Stephanie is still at Northeastern getting a business degree.

Have they changed in any way? Not really sure – doesn’t seem like it. Maybe Allison got a little more self-confident, judging by her facebook pictures? Yay!

Any gossip you know about some of your old friends? Lots are getting married/having kids. Not cool – for me, anyway.

What kind of car did your mom/dad/guardian drive? Old school woody station wagon, then a Saab, Oldsmobile, Volvo, Intrigue… and the newest addition is a little silver VW.

Was it considered the cool car for the field trips? School… bus?

Did you pick on any of the kids in middle school? No – if I didn’t like someone, I just didn’t talk to them. But I actually did talk to a lot of the unpopular kids because I either liked them or felt bad, sometimes. It also sometimes backfired on me. I went to a Power Rangers-themed birthday party. Wasn’t the best…

Were you the one picked on in middle school? No – at this point I was still taller than just about everyone. And I stayed away from those kinds of mean girls.

Who was your favorite teacher from middle school? Frau Venus for German

Did you ever get suspended in middle school? No

What was your favorite thing to play during recess? Didn’t have recess in middle school – in elementary it was either tag or playing on the tire swings.

Would you consider yourself to be popular in middle school? No

High School

What did you want to be when you were going into high school? I knew I liked biology, art and writing – hadn’t put a career to one of those yet, though.

Did a lot of your friends go with you to high school? There is only one high school, so yes.

What highschool did you go to? Ridgefield High School

Did you transfer a few years later? To where? No!

Who was your first new friend in high school? Jacqueline Robinson

Are they still your friend? I would say so – it’s just hard to keep in touch when she’s in California and then in Ridgefield still.

Were you popular in high school? No – but I had a lot of friends in a lot of different groups. A floater, you might say.

What was your favorite freshman year course? Art or English – they FINALLY divided people based on how good they were, whereas they did that in math in middle school. Frustrating! Also, Earth Science with Condosta.

What was your favorite sophomore year course? Biology with Noyes.

What was your favorite junior year course? AP English Language, go Ms. Wassall! Let us convene in the broom closet!

What was your favorite senior year course? AP English Literature – god, that was insane. Lots of extremely loud, irrelevant fights, my anonymous first chapter being picked for our joint novel and Indian food to celebrate the end! And AP Biology, with the talented Mr. Jeffrey “Jazzy” Jaslow and his ridiculous quotes: [As Kate goes to crush a bug] “And that would be a poor, innocent member of what phylum?”

Who was your favorite teacher (s)? Wassall, Jazzy, Ercole “Spin Doctor” Spinelli, crazy leprechaun Condosta and the German-woman-who-lives-up-to-the-stereotype-gloriously, Frau Kavilauskas.

Did you play any sports in highschool? Soccer for 2 years, skiing for 4.

Any big victories for your team, or your high school teams in general? Skiing: we were undefeated a couple times, won divisionals a bunch of times, won divisionals and states while going undefeated once…! And the football team won states, I think. More people cared about that. :(

Were you in any clubs? I forget the name of it, but it just served to be on my resume and it was kind of fun.

Did you do student government? Ugh, no. The people on student government were all nutjobs.

How were your grades in high school? Good, I guess – something like 3.5-.7, unweighted.

Who were your best friends in high school? Freshman year: Allison, Katie, Cate, Steph, Andrea, soccer team girls
Sophomore year and beyond: Jack, Meena, Steph, Katie, Micah, Dave, Ryan, PJ, Nick

Any good memories? Riding a bicycle off a dock into the lake in the rain.

Another memory? Piggy back race across the golf course at night.

And another good memory? Camping on the bluffs, Marcus Dairy Diner in the morning all scruffy and dirty.

Did you go to the dances in high school? In the earlier years, yes; went to junior prom, but not senior.

Were they fun? What was the song in high school? Got a little better at dancing, and it started to be about actually dancing instead of stalking your oblivious crush, so sure, fun. There were so many bad songs in high school, I forget.

What was the ultimate crush song in highschool? I forget because it wasn’t that important.

Did you drive to school in high school? Junior and senior years, yes, and we even evaded the mud lot.

Did you have any younger/older siblings that went to HS with you? Mark, was freshman when I was a senior, he didn’t know how lucky he was to get rides freshman year. It was nice to have him there, too, as long as he didn’t mess with the heater in the winter.

Where was your senior trip to? What?? If we had one, I didn’t go.

How was grad night? I probably just sat at home with my family. Lame.

Did you party a lot in high school? No, chilled a lot though. In the woods, snuck into people’s pools/hot tubs, relaxed in cars and on couches in the basement. Also, had some mad fun soccer and frisbee games in the muddy rainy fields.

Would you consider yourself popular in high school? Eh, no. Like I said, I knew some people who were, but I was not in that general group.

Was your car cool in high school? Totally. Wrangler. Kickin’ it like the stereotypical suburban kids.

Did you have any boyfriends/girlfriends in high school? Adam, after he’d left.

Did you break up? No

If so why did you break up?

Did you have a crush on anyone in high school that you asked out? Never. I’ve never asked anyone out.

Did you ever date someone from high school, but after graduation? Same person, so no.

Did you pull any senior pranks? I didn’t, but remember those jerks I was talking about? Almost the entire male body of my class? They poured cooking oil on the stairs, left a dead fish in the cafeteria ceiling and let mice go in the halls. The previous class was so much better: one kid rode a tricycle down the middle of the ONLY road that gets to the high school from the south side of town. Everyone was late.

What kind of high school did you go to? uniforms? Public school. One friend brought her baby to school junior year for a day.

What teacher did you hate the most? Rachel Black-Unger. Even the name should instill fear into your heart.

If not the same, what teacher did you fight with the most? No, probably her. She told me that my organizational skills were lacking. As if!

Did you ever get kicked out of class? No

About how many times do you think you had detention? Never in high school, a couple times in middle school because my stupid house group decided to never bring in homework, so anyone who innocently forgot theirs in the entire year had to eat lunch in perfect silence in the history room. NOT FUN. Thanks guys.

Did you ever run for student government? No

Did you do better in English or in Math? Or Both? English, by a long shot.

Did you get into the college that you wanted to go to? Every one, yes.

What college do you go to now? Went to BU.

Do you want to be there? Loved it.

What made you decide to go there? Boston seemed cool, in that perfect distance that was too far away to go home every weekend but still close enough to do so without too much trouble, and they had a good bio department.

What is your major? Biology and German Language and Literature

Any minors or emphasis in anything? No

What have been your favorite classes so far? Systems Phys, Neuro, Mammalian Ecology, Weimar Era Film, Der Romantik…

Any classes that you hate? I disliked Gen Chem.

Any classes that you have failed? Failed calculus the first time around, big time. I blame the teacher and myself. Got A’s when I took it in the summer, though. TAKE HARD CLASSES IN THE SUMMER.

Do you go to a big school, or a small school? Middle-ish, I guess. Nowhere near the size of some of those monstrous state schools.

Do you have friends from high school or elementary there with you? Mmm, no close friends, but I knew some people.

Are you still friends with anyone from HS or elementary school? Sure, whenever I can hang out with them, I definitely do so.

Who was one of the first friends you made in college? A real, solid friend? Raj. Played ping pong with him the very first night.

Did you live in the dorms? Towers, Hojo, StuV

How is/was that? I disliked Towers; my roommate was nice, but extremely awkward. Hojo was better. StuV obviously kicked some butt.

Did you like your roommates? Ok, Yes, Ok, Yes, Yes!

Do you like the people that go to your school? What, as a group? Um … for the most part, they’re cool, but some of them I just wanna… *shakes fist*

Have you ever gotten in trouble at your school? No

Has anything major ever happened at your school? Hockey team took some names – after I’d graduated… and freshman year was when the Sox broke the curse, so that riot was pretty intense.

Do you still have the car from highschool? No, it’s dead now.

Are you going to finish college in 4 years? Indeedy did.

Are you going to go on to a higher education later (masters)? ‘Swhat I’m doing now.

What are you going to be when you grow up? I don’t think I’ll ever consider myself grown up, so probably nothing ever.

Are you satisfied with that? :)

How many times will you change your job interests? How am I supposed to know that??

Are you dating anyone? Yes

If so how did you meet them? Invited by a mutual friend to go see Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life and then fell in love with his car. And him.

Are you going to get married in college, or after college? Uh, I think that one’s set just about now.

Any fond memories of college? Thao teaching me step at 2am – people under us probably didn’t appreciate that.

Another? Getting seriously sketched out with Jen and Danielle at clubs, then laughing about it over late night pizza.

And another? Dim Sum with Jia, Steph and Debbie :D

How long until you graduate from college? Almost exactly a year ago.

How well have your grades been? Sucky at first, then much much better.

Have you done any college sports/clubs? Played a couple of games of IM soccer, did some Ultimate.

Is your school known for anything (academics, sports, ect)? Hockey, biomedical engineering, I guess…

Any great acknowledgements you have recieved in school? I … got a German award? Seeing as I was one of two German majors, I thought it was pretty unsurprising. And Dean’s List once.

Do you think college prepares you for the real world? Depends what you do during it. Probably not, though.

What was helpful for college that you learned in highschool? Teachers love you when you stay after class and ask questions.

Alphabet time!

A-Z

A
Available: rarely
Age: 22
Annoyance: those who cannot read social signs
Animal: wolf

B
Beer: Schneiderweisse, Franziskaner, Reissdorf...
Birthday: April 12
Best Friend: Adam
Body Part on opposite sex: dark hair, must have
Best feeling in the world: falling asleep watching the summer sky in a leafy tree
Best weather: 75 and sunny, jeans, t-shirt and sandals
Been in Love: once
Been on stage?: oompa-loompa in 5th grade, clarinet and guitar in middle school
Believe in Magic: with what I read, I should, but no
Blind or deaf?: obviously not the former

C
Candy: skittles
Color: green, brown
Chocolate or Vanilla: vanilla
Chinese or Mexican Food: i can't decide
Cake or pie: pie... strawberry rhubarb
Continent to visit: Australia/New Zealand
Cheese: can't have enough (ate feta by itself for dinner last night)

D
Day or Night: day
Dancing in the rain: if it's warm enough

E
Eyes: hazel, apparently evil-looking
Everyone’s got: to do the best they can
Ever failed a class? yes!

F
First thoughts waking up: yay, what's for breakfast, which book should I read, what's the weather?
Food: sometimes a necessary annoyance, sometimes a delight
Full name: Christine Elizabeth Rice
Flaws: motivation for things I feel are trifling, not calling people back, temper

G
Greatest Fear: death - I like my life too much
Goals: be happy
Gum: makes me feel icky
Get along with your parents? great. they feed me. I entertain them.
Good Luck Charm: don't believe in luck - everything happens for a reason, not because you're lucky
Hair color: medium brown, reddish tint
Height: 5'8.25"
Happy: usually
Holiday: when?!

I
Ice Cream: vanilla bean, coffee heath bar crunch
Instrument: not musically inclined, but played viola, guitar and clarinet

J
Jewelry: watch for work, earrings sometimes
Job: launchpad

K
Kids: disliked them before, getting better at it
Kickboxing or karate: kickboxing (not that I've ever)
Keep a journal? had a diary in elementary... what do you think THIS is?

L
Letter: exchange with grammie and cousins; grammie's has $$, cousins have cute drawings
Laugh so hard you cried: four nights ago about some kind of animal noise I involuntarily made

M
Milk flavor: ugh, regular, plz
Movies: animated, old school B&W silent
Motion sickness? never until college
McD’s or BK: BK, food seems more substantial

N
Number: 3

O
One wish: make it count

P
Pepsi or Coke: die-hard pepsi until high school, coke now
Perfect Pizza: three-cheese. mm fontina feta
Piercing: 7 in ears... don't like em for guys

Q
Quail: eggs are next to the emu eggs in whole foods... who'da thunk?
Quiet?: unless with family/close friends

R
Reason to cry: books
Reality T.V.: I refuse to acknowledge its existence
Roll your tongue in a circle: can do
Ring size: looked it up, promptly forgot
Radio station: Top 40, rarely though

S
Song: Layne - Staind
Shoe Size: 9.5
Salad Dressing: balsamic or just lemon juice
Sushi: atlantic salmon with cucumber
Skinny dipped?: no, but would... lakes up north are too cold
Strawberries or blueberries?: strawberries for desserts, blueberries for freezing
Slept outside: too many times to count
Sing well: *snort

T
Tattoos? no, never - like them on guys, though
Thunderstorms: love them... thundersnow is even better
Time for bed: 11:15

U
Unpredictable: not at all

V
Vacation spot(s): Europe, outdoor things like camping, hiking

W
Weakness: socially awkward
Which one of your friends acts the most like you? Danielle
Worst feeling: guilt
Wanted to be a model?: no - career is probably over at 25
Worst Weather?: freezing cold but yet raining - how does this happen all the time?!
Where do we go when we die? don't know, but I hope we stay ourselves

X
X-Rays: have had them, discovered my broken toe
Ex’s: nonexistant

Y
Year it is now: cow or something?
Yellow: "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; short story, read it: http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_gilman_yw.htm

Z
Zzzzz’s: only 7.5hrs, kthnx
Zoo animal: monkeys

Last
You fell asleep next to: Adam
You went to the mall with: Mark and Adam for xmas shopping
Went to dinner with: Jia, Steph, Debbie (yey!)
Talked to on the phone: Adam
Made you laugh: Adam
Hugged you: Adam
Said they loved you: Adam
Held your hand: Adam
Spoke with online: Jimmy

(ok, that's... overboard. even I'll admit it.)

Weird day.

I had class yesterday so I had to wake up about an hour earlier than I normally do. On the first Thursday of every month, we get this free breakfast at work - bagels, muffins, fresh fruit, OJ, coffee, egg wraps - that is quite good, even though no one knows who brings it (which is actually better for us, because there are laws against trying to sway organizations to buy products with bribes). So I had a good breakfast, a busy-enough day and studied a bit for my quiz. For lunch I had a sandwich that Adam had gotten me the night before, turkey and swiss and cranberry sauce (like Thanksgiving) and even though the cranberries had soaked through the bottom of the bread, it was really good.
I got a cinnamon dolce latte for class from Starbucks and felt totally fine... until the break in the middle. The girl sitting in front of me came back smelling like cigarette smoke and that just turned my stomach. I felt yucky throughout the rest, and although I didn't think of it at the time, it was a blessing that the professor finished a half hour early. I had to concentrate real hard getting back home, and the weird subway smells didn't help, either. The cold air did, thank goodness.
I got home, feeling really dizzy and lasted about 10 minutes until my roommate and his girlfriend left (to spare them the grossness) before seeing some of my lunch for the second time. I drank some water... which just made it easier to do it again. Adam called, I told him I was feeling sick, and he asked if I had anything other than the turkey... which made me have to hang up and run to the bathroom again. I finally forced some soup down and it stayed, but it was a struggle, since my friends came back and watched a Scrubs episode entirely about coffee (after having some and being sick, not a good association now) and flipping through the tv stations with an amazing knack for finding things that grossed me out; "Click" was on with Adam Sandler, and the only line we heard as we flipped by was, "...have tons of jello shots and puke our brains out!" along with some other reference to that in "The Office" or "30 Rock".
Not a fun night.
But Adam was sweet and brought me some ginger ale. :)

Daily quotes

So I have an iGoogle webpage and one of the gadgets is the daily quotes. I'm going to record the ones I like because I know I always like at least one but then I forget them. Here we go!

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit. Genius hits a target no one else can see." Arthur Schopenhauer

"There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." W. Somerset Maugham

This makes me smile... nostalgia.

Either way, I'm extremely proud of my brother.

http://www.purevolume.com/lowfiy

The songs just make me smile!! Maybe it's because I know it's him, and I've seen him bent over his guitar in front of his computer messing around with song clips for the vast majority of his adult life and it just reminds me of home.... or do they really make YOU smile?

Notable notes.

So, I guess you could say it's been an interesting last week.

I got hit by a bicycle. This woman was on the sidewalk (illegal, first of all) and she was coming straight at me, making eye contact. I was pressed as far over to my right (the correct side) as I could be, being that there was a building right there. The sidewalk was at least two blocks wide, and she could have easily fit. She continued to make eye contact and came right past me, smacking my arm with her handlebars. I should have kicked her wheel. Idiot.

Just had an impromtu discussion/vent/comradely conversation at work with labbie-on-the-other-side re: a certain confusing yet superior entity. She asked me if I could show her how to get the liquid nitrogen out of the tank, and I would love to. It's not hard, good to know, etc., but I told her that I probably couldn't/shouldn't/wouldn't due to the strange definition of work and somewhat hysterical tendencies that come from this certain entity when I help others out. She understood, laughed, and shared a bit. It's good to know we're on the same page - that being a state of bewildered consternation in opposition to above said entity.

I'm using a Christmas gift for the first time today! It's a vacuum-sealed food jar, meant to keep cold things cold and hot things hot for up to 24 hours. I made some pasta this morning, and it always sucks to reheat pasta because it gets all dry, so I'll check it out at lunch.

I've narrowed down some of my favorites in my rather large box of tea that I also got for Christmas. <3 the strawberry and lemon spice, the raspberry, orange, green and apple cinnamon are good, too. The english breakfast is normal, along with all the others (which still means acceptably good). I might waste some time and make a spreadsheet... ahhhh what my employment has done to me!

I do believe that since my last post, I've read at least through the entire series of The Protector of the Small, which is a quartet, and also "Ender's Game." The former I'd read before and really liked, while the latter was a new read for me! (Doesn't happen often.)
I really liked "Ender's Game", which brought me a little closer to the science fiction genre that I normally tend to steer a bit away from. There are spaceships, aliens, wars, laser guns and null gravity fight scenes, all of which are somewhat separated from my favorite genre of fantasy, with the good vs. evil, sword battles, archery, clever animals, and most importantly, magic. (Laugh it up now, har har har.) Anyway, I loved the beginning of "Ender", where Card forces you to figure out what the monitor is, why it was there and Ender's relationship with the members of his family and with himself. The middle was still good in a different way, with the whole part about Ender finding out that he is horribly clever and a natural tactician, but I started to dislike how bad he began feeling about his whole situation. I know that is the ENTIRE point, but still, didn't like it. Also, the fake-ending is a complete (and for anyone other than me, extremely obvious) anti-climax and I hit myself over the head because I didn't see it coming. It was not nice to see how deteriorated he was, and how he now was useless, his entire difficult puppeted life meant for some event that was now over, etc.
Which is why the real ending was fantastic. And I really don't think ANYONE would see THAT one coming.
Minor note: Didn't like how his No. 1 enemy wasn't ever punished; did like how he died in his late seventies when Ender is still in his twenties (figure that one out!).

I'm now reading the first book of a completely unknown (to me) series by Jonathan Stroud called the Bartimaeus Trilogy; the book is "The Amulet of Samarkand" and of course you can probably figure out the main components of this fantasy book. Non-surprising details: it's kind of Harry-Potter-ish, being that there are magicians and non-magicians, it's modern times in London and there's a lot of sneakiness going on under the noses of the non-magicians (read: Muggles?). Couple of twists: all magic is done by various demon individuals and not through any power of magicians at all (which leads to a LOT of nasty critters running around in the book), the little kid (Harry? No. Nathaniel.) is actually the bad guy now... or as far as I can tell. It's also written in the first person from the point of view of.... a demon! Ha! Turnaround there, huh. I guess Nathaniel isn't that bad, but he's only 11 and he's bent on revenge against another magician who humiliated him. Just cause, poor anger management. Have yet to discover if he's going to actually be a bad person or not.

After these ones, there's an already-read but still wonderfully exciting two-book miniseries in the same... um... "universe"? Literary geographical and time-setting? as the Protector of the Small quartet, which were oh-so-surprisingly delivered to me by mail from my wonderous former roommates. Can't wait!

Oh, holidays were good, saw Meena (yay! :D), relaxed with Adam, immediate and extended family, brother included, got a kickass new desk/bookshelf (and I'm going to need it, I think...), started working out more diligently and feel good (although my right bicep is KILLING me right now, I've had to shake it out about 10x since starting this post) and ate enough cookies for a small herd of ponies.
All in all, a good mishmash of excitement and relaxation to round out the days off from work.