The Christmas Tree

Today my family decorated our Christmas tree. As usual, it was complete pandemonium. Our tree is several years old (five or six, I think), and it came pre-lit. When the tree was new, that was wonderful. Now that it's older and the lights no longer work perfectly? Not so much. So most of yesterday we spent running around the entire metro area looking for some new LED holiday lights. FINALLY we found some at K-mart, although I'm not really sure how good of quality they are. The K-mart near where I live has a bit of a reputation around here for selling defective goods, but at the moment, they seem to be working OK.

Once we finally managed to get the lights on the tree, it was ornament time. I like Christmas ornaments. I have since I was a little girl. Many of the ornaments I remember from my childhood were destroyed when the basement flooded, but since then we have gained new ornaments. Still, it's not the same. When I was very young, there was an enormous red ball that was studded with fake jewels. Looking back on it now, it was pretty tacky, but I loved that ornament and it had to go on the tree every year no matter what, and it had to go on an important, easily seen place. Unfortunately, that ornament was destroyed during the flood- the cold water shattered it.

Since we lost so many ornaments, my mother has been trying to make up for it by buying new and interesting ornaments every year. We always get White House Christmas ornaments, and if an online store has offers on them, then she buys them.

I've also done most of my shopping, and I will tell you this now: Shopping districts are completely insane this time of year. I think next year, I'm buying everyone's stuff on the Internet, so I don't have to worry about getting run over by angry stay-at-home mothers with their entire tribe in one of those enormous baby strollers that fit 2000000 kids. Also, I have to ask: if you're buying Christmas presents, then why bring the kids with you? Then they'll know what they're getting for Christmas, and half the fun is not knowing! But I digress- this post isn't meant to be a rant.

I just love the holidays- I find this to be one of the least depressing times of year for me. I love Christmas lights, I love Christmas decorations, I love Christmas presents, I love Christmas snacks, I love the Christmas holidays from school- I just love Christmas! I can't wait- two weeks from Friday! I hope I get the stuff I asked for. And I hope my family likes their presents, although I think they might know what they are.

Lazy Goes To The Fair

I got out of school today to go to the State Fair of Virginia. Usually I would be jumping around for joy like a sugar-high eight-year-old with ADHD, but I did have to miss a rather important psychology test. Normally I'd say "what the hell", but this year I'm actually trying to pass my classes...

Anyway, enough blah about school crap- on to the fair! Despite having to wake up at the usual time of 5:30 AM, everyone was pretty excited about traveling to the fair. We all loaded on the bus and got the usual lecture about "what happens on the bus stays on the bus, so if you've gotta go, hold it until we get there." I got stuck in front of some people who were talking so loud they pierced through my headphones. And when you're listening to speedcore at 70% volume, that takes a lot. But whatever, it's not like I was on a flight next to a crying baby for eight hours. I only had to put up with it for an hour and forty-five minutes, so it could have been worse.

When we got to the fair, we divided up into groups. I got in the group with people who wanted to go on all the rides. Normally I like amusement rides, even though I'm a bit paranoid when it comes to them, but then I saw the ticket prices. I have to go to the World Capital of Expensive Crap, Disney World, next month, and then a few days after I get back from there, New York City, so I didn't want to pay $20 for a ride pass... and then I proceeded to spend WAY more than $20 on snacks and jewelry. Well, more on the snacks- fair food is expensive. Actually, speaking of fair food, I ate way more fried stuff than I probably should, and I was even brave enough to try a fried candy bar. It was delicious, but I think I gained about 10 pounds just thinking about it! I should have taken a picture and uploaded it to This Is Why You're Fat. No matter, I don't intend to eat fried candy bars every day, especially since even though it was good, my body couldn't handle that much fattening content and rejected it- I haven't been able to eat anything else since then. One good thing about this trip was the strawberry sweet tea- my friend's grandmother makes it as well, and hers is an old family recipe. While the tea at the fair wasn't as good as my friend's grandmother's, it was the closest thing to decent sweet tea that I've ever had from a mass company.

The way back was rather interesting... some guy fell asleep and someone doodled on his face with a Sharpie, and he didn't wake up, so that provided some entertainment. But this time I was able to listen to my music relatively uninterrupted, so that was nice.

I took a couple of pictures at the fairground- I'm not in any of them, though, and probably no one wants to see my ugly-ass self, so you'll just have to make do.

I was really pissed because I had this great shot of the roller coaster, and then some fugly bitch had to get in the way. And she wouldn't move! So I can't post that epic picture... damn. The best one is the one you can see at the top of this page.