The Holidays

Looking at my archives, I see that I haven't said much about my trip to California. So....

I'm not going to say much more about Dad. We arranged for him to have a military funeral - three-gun volley, bugler playing "Taps", flag ceremony, the whole schmear - and his ashes are interred, with a few other items, in a wall-niche at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. That was what he wanted.

:pause for brief tears:

I did pay a visit to Barnes & Noble, as usual. I didn't buy much; even without the $25 gift certificate I got for Christmas, I spent less than $100. I bought a few bits of fiction - Hiaasen, Bradbury, Steven Erikson, Naomi Novik - plus the cookbook I mentioned a while ago and Empires of the Silk Road, a book on Central Asian history someone recommended to me. Haven't gotten around to reading any of them yet.

D and I did get out to one movie, "Frozen". I was pretty pleased with it; I particularly liked the fact that, though there was a villain, he wasn't the central problem - that was Elsa's need to come to terms with her power. (If anything, he helped catalyze the resolution.) Like almost everyone who's seen it, I was most impressed by Elsa's big "Let It Go" number. Brought tears, it did.

I can't say it was a good vacation, but it had its moments.

Distorting Mirror

It occurs to me that Sara Bareilles' "Brave" (which I love) is to rock roughly what Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance" (which I also love) is to country. There are overtone differences, but the basic message is the same.

Chronodimensional Skip

I just wandered into the living room to turn on the Super Bowl.

It finally hit me that today is Saturday.

Gah.