Or so says Cratchit (who actually said I’m not much of a blogger “these days”, which allows us both to reflect on the glory days of blogging everything we bought, every cheese sandwich we ate, and every annoying person who ever stood in front of us in a line).

The truth of it all is that I am too much of a expectations-defying curmudgeon to really be in self-publishing. Tons of hits for cute kid stories? But I’m so much MORE than that. I am complicated. Can’t write anything else about kids until everyone else realizes how COMPLICATED I am. I will prove it, and then post more kid stories.

Okay, so here’s one: Becky wore a two-piece swimsuit for the first time the other day, and was jumping up and down from excitement, because she’d never worn a “zucchini” before. Zekini? Bikini, anyway, was what she was searching for. Christie gets very emotional about fixing these little English problems, because once they’re corrected, the kids never make that mistake again, and sometimes it seems like that’s all we ever get to keep of them. Stupid growing up.

And remember when I used to write stuff like this?

I played with the Wii on Saturday night. It is excellent and I am totally waiting for them to be actually available without waiting in line, because that’s about all it will take for me to get one. That could be because it’s the only next-gen system that’s not so hard-headed about HDTV (I don’t have one, and I’m not about to get one for video games), or maybe because they have actually done something interesting with the controller (making the whole experience a little more like being in an arcade). Whatever it is, it isn’t the internet-scribbling blog-cows who have been saying that “finally someone made a console that’s FUN, because this is about grown-ups having FUN and nothing else since the Atari has been about FUN”. If you haven’t had fun playing video games since 1985, then you’re irreparably DOING IT WRONG and should seriously consider going back to whatever else it was you were doing, if people still do that in 2006.

Yeah, those were the days.

Otherwise? My MacBook Pro is holding up pretty nicely. I need to register one of these text editors, but I’m not sure which one. Las Vegas was a blast: I hurt my feet walking around so much, but I did win the one tournament I entered, so it was financially successful. Beyond that, poker is good: barring a December collapse, I plan on paying taxes on $5000 in 2006 poker income. (That is gonna hurt.) And I’m not exactly sure what we’re doing for Christmas, despite the fact that I just sent an email out saying that the one thing we are not doing is staying up late Christmas Eve. (Which is a lot of fun, but for the next 12 years, my kids need to sleep, and sleep well, when I am not going to be at work the next day. True.)

Hi everyone. I’m ready to spend some time out of my shell again. Get ready for a very large post.

First off, there hasn’t been a whole lot going on. I haven’t had a whole lot to say here for a lot of reasons, but let’s just get the what’s-going-on trivia out of the way.

I turned 30

That happened. It was fine. Almost six months in, that term is actually starting to fit. At 28, I really thought I’d want to just lose a weekend in Mexico or something. At 30, I can’t exactly remember what I did that weekend. That’s okay.

I took up knitting

Yes! Christie and I hadn’t shared any of our mutual interests, so I just had her sit me down and walk me through the basics of knitting. I made a hat. I plan to walk her through the basics of taking apart a $5 PokerStars sit-n-go, but the opportunity hasn’t exactly presented itself.

I bleached and then cropped my hair

I must have been completely blond for less than a month… I’m not sure. It was kind of fun. My kids didn’t mind. I am not exactly sure what I was going for, and I’m not sure what anyone else would tell you I accomplished. (I may just have bothered some people who didn’t want to think about my hair.)

I went on vacation

I read a poker book and won a poker tournament. Other than that, it was a lot of sitting, and that’s really okay with me.

I started watching Lost

And I’m only up to the very start of the second season. I was reading some stuff about the alternate reality (not stuff that’s happening in the show, but websites and games and “clues” about the universe the show takes place in) and decided it was probably worth checking out. After 26 episodes, we’re just at the point where the alternate reality stuff starts happening. We’ll see.

Bought a Mac

Yep, a MacBook Pro. I have a lot reasons for doing that. Mostly, I just don’t like the vibe that XP/Vista is giving off. And I’m fully aware that Apple’s marketing campaign is “we give off a different vibe” - 100% empty, in other words. But I am really enjoying the experience so far (there I go again).

Booked a trip to Las Vegas

I’m going in two weeks.

Mourned internet poker

They tried to stop people from gambling online. They could have regulated it, taxed it, even analyzed it, but Congress instead opted for a prohibition. They are trying to cut off funding (so people like me that only make withdrawals appear to be okay, for now), but it was certainly the first blow against the game. I still play, making about $30 a day, but the game as we knew it has certainly come to an end.
Joined the Y

Yeah, we did that. We like it. We belonged to a Y in Uptown, but this one is bigger and has cooler toys. We’re still in the first month of that, so we go all the time and talk about how toned we are.

Bought some bookshelves

These items are getting more boring.

Halloween was cute

Ask me if you haven’t observed Adam and Becky as Mario and Luigi. It was pretty great. (Would have been better if they’d consented to mustaches, but that was a game-time decision and they said no.)

I no longer really expect comments on this site, but if you have something to say, go ahead and say it.