Archives: December 2003
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
So ends 2003. Well, it will in about 6 hours and some change. We have no plans for NYE, and in a way I don't even mind. Cherie had wanted to go to Times Square, citing that it's one of those things that you "should do once in your life", which I disagree with. All the times I've seen the New Year's celebrations there on tv I've been bored out of my mind, and have changed the tv channel because it just wasn't interesting. Times Sq. is also busy enough on a regular day, so the idea of it on NYE is just scary. As I stated elsewhere, the idea of being somewhere in the cold, packed like sardines in a claustrophobia inducing horde of thousands or millions of people is as appealing as Chinese water torture.
Kreestof was kind enough to offer to take us along to a party in Staten Island, but we don't really know anyone there but him.
So we're probably going to go catch a movie at 9, Calendar Girls, which should be amusing, and then just be old farty and stay in ;)
@ 05:28 PM EST
Monday, December 29, 2003
We just got back from seeing Cold Mountain. What a gorgeous and heartbreaking film, and so rightly nominated for all those Golden Globes.
Glorious photography, lovely scenery, such visual eyecandy as Minghella is reknowned for. And a lovely yet heartwrenching tale that winds through it. Jude Law put in such a stunning performance as Inman, mostly by conveying so much by doing so little, and acheiving such perfect subtlety. It's lovely to watch him act, a real joy. Nicole Kidman was also glorious as Ada, as was Renée as the spunky Ruby.
Loved, loved, loved it. I'm hoping they get an impressive haul at the Golden Globes with this film, and subsequently the Oscars, it would be well deserved indeed.
I can't wait for the dvd already. I've seen stills of Jude sitting in a deck chair along the sea which wasn't in the movie, so I hope that that will be restored in the dvd, or at least added as a deleted scenes extra.
@ 02:13 AM EST
Sunday, December 28, 2003
A new layout up at my fanlisting collective page, http://fan.silentgarden.net/. The fantabulous Jude Law.
@ 08:22 PM EST
The gift exchanging mentioned in the previous post happened around midnight on Christmas, so here the story of the rest of the day, and the day after.
Christmas day was fairly quiet, we spent it at PreZ's aunt's house. Had dinner, talked, I got coerced into playing Mario Golf with the kids, and making things with play-doh... ah the things you do to keep kids entertained ;) It was good.
No snow this year for Christmas, other than a pitiful attempt in the afternoon as we arrived, when the sky spat down a few tiny flakes at us.
Boxing day was Cherie's now post-Christmas party. Tom and Karen had to bow out due to illness, Kit was in Virginia and Audrey & John didn't arive til somewhere after midnight, but it was fun. Even though half the people fell asleep at some point. We seem to have this happen at a lot of parties... at our Halloween party Tom fell asleep on the floor and we put Cherie in our bed to sleep because she was passing out from over-tiredness too... at a subsequent gathering at Karen's place Kit fell asleep on the floor and the couch, and this time it was first Keith, then Katie who were asleep, and Brian and Cherie were also dozing off towards the end of the night. Do you think we're getting old? :P
We had fun, exchanged gifts, ate food, talked and laughed, watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers extended edition, which we'd gotten Cherie as a gift, and later Eddie Izzard's Dress to Kill routine, which we have on audio but had never seen on the screen. Hilarious, as usual. I really enjoyed watching the extended version of TTT, it really did add more depth to numerous parts, such as Faramir and why he acted the way he did, and just other little bits and pieces.
Much fun was had, and I look forward to a repeat.
@ 08:02 PM EST
Saturday, December 27, 2003
Best Christmas gift EVER!!
PreZ got me a 30gb iPod for Christmas :D *does the happy dance around the room*
I love that boy of mine :)
Other than that he also got me a "I <3 my geek" tshirt, which I surely do (and amusingly enough I got him a tshirt with < geek > on the front and < /geek > on the back), a Victoria's Secret giftcard (which many have commented is probably as much for him as me), some luxury bon-bons and some new RAM (he *is* a geek afterall...).
Christmas tradition in his household was always that you got to open one present at midnight Christmas day, and then the rest Christmas morning. However, I harrassed and begged him til we opened them all at midnight :) There's only two of us, it's not like there's kids, so I didn't see much of a point in waiting... and I wanted to see him open his gifts, mainly because I thought I did good with the stuff I got him, and pretty much hoped he'd be as excited about it as I was, mission accomplished I think, though I don't think any of my gifts were quite as swanky as the iPod.
I don't think I've ever gotten a cooler gift for Christmas than this iPod, and I feel so spoiled too, it's so purty :) My Precious!
@ 04:01 PM EST
Monday, December 22, 2003
Thursday PreZ took the last couple of hours off work, work that he was doing from home that day anyway, and we ventured off to the mall for the finishing touches on the Christmas shopping, mostly for each other, stocking stuffers and I wanted some additional stuff for him as well. I did good, I found the items I wanted for him, and I really hope he'll like them too, so now I eagerly await his reaction on Christmas day.
Funnily enough this is the first year we've really bought gifts for each other, usually it was more that we just bought something we wanted, now a lot of it's a surprise, which is fun.
Friday night we went and saw the final Lord of the Rings movie, Return of the King, which was truly stunning and a worthy final chapter in this epic series. Peter Jackson is a god... I wish all movies made of books were done with such love, passion, care and vision.
Plans to see The Missing fell into the water when I realised last weekend that it stopped playing pretty much everywhere. It's barely been out 3-4 weeks. Ugh. Sometimes I hate the blockbuster season, it chases all the good movies that would probably not draw a large audience out of the theatres really quickly. Very frustrating indeed.
Earlier in the week I also tried to book my 2 week follow-up visit with the doctor, which would have been just after Christmas, only to find that the first availible appointment was January 6. Frustrating indeed as I was bound by certain limitations for two weeks, and I don't much feel like restricting my life for another 2 weeks more because the doctor is booked up... so with caution life as normal will resume on the 2 week mark.
This weekend was quiet mostly. Saturday evening PreZ and I played Warcraft 3 against each other on the LAN, and Sunday I did a load of the single player missions. 8pm saw me glued to the tv for Inside The Actor's Studio which featured guest Jude Law. That man is sex on legs, he's so gorgeous. And he's entertaining and funny and charming when interviewed too. A great show, and I'm so looking forward to Cold Mountain which should open on Christmas day, in which he stars with Nicole Kidman, and which looks absolutely stunning. PreZ mostly shakes his head and chuckles at this obsession of mine ;)
@ 12:50 AM EST
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
And so we head closer and closer to the end of the year.
Friday was a trip to the clinic, which ended well. The wait was fairly annoying, we arrived around 10am to be there until around 3.30pm for what amounted to less than half an hour in accumulated tests (2), consultations (1) and the actual procedure, and a half an hour or so in the recovery room. It all went smoothly, much more so than I had anticipated. Expect the worst and hope for the best, right?
PreZ I know was fairly aggravated about the whole thing, mainly as he didn't appreciate being left in the cold by staff, because as the partner you're essentially not really noticed as it's all about the patient instead. Something that often happens I guess, but it's annoying and insulting to the partners, who also deserve some more information and closure and all that stuff. Because things were fairly chaotic at the clinic he didn't get to be with me at the consultation, and he would have liked to have been in the recovery room, only they don't allow anyone in there. Maybe the medical establishment will one day catch on to this fact and allow partners some more information and access during the whole thing.
We took it easy on the weekend. Picked up our Christmas tree at the nursery on Saturday and decorated it. They always smell so good... pity you don't really notice it that much after a day or so though. We also braved Toys-R-Us for a gift for Evan... we already knew what we needed and so it was fairly quick and painless. We managed to get the last one of that particular item, a Tonka construction truck with actual tools and a hardhat. The box looked as though it had been assaulted by the trucks real life counter part though, which was kind of crappy, but on the otherhand Evan is 3 or 4, he'll never notice or care for that matter.
Sunday was an indoor day, mostly due to snow all day. Plans with Cherie were cancelled for that reason. Mostly I just played some Makin' Magic, the new Sims expansion, which is fun. Other than that PreZ and I just vegged out and talked and watched some tv, including an Inside The Actor's Studio interview with Cate Blanchett on Bravo. She's such a lovely person, humble too. That was a great show to watch. I hope to get to see her latest movie The Missing soon... it stopped playing really quickly here, but is still showing at the Palisades, so I'm hoping it will stay there long enough for us to actually get to see it. Fingers Crossed.
@ 09:05 PM EST
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
And so a week screeches by before I even realise it's been that long. Sorry. Not that I really have anything in the way of a reading base, but there you go.
Last Thursday I dealt with some medical stuff, which will have addendums this Friday and a few weeks hence, but all is fine. Consistently feeling blah and tired coupled with some very mild nausea is very annoying though. I hate it when your body conspires against you.
Last Friday saw a snowstorm hit the north east and kept us indoors most of the weekend dropping at least a good 8-9 inches on us. It stopped sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday. Sunday night we ventured off to the cinema to see Russell Crowe's latest Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, a movie I enjoyed immensely.
The movie is based on a series of novels, 20 or so from what I've managed to find out, all following Captain Jack Aubrey and his trusty ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin. For the movie they dated the period some years earlier than the book (Far Side of the World being the 10th or so novel I believe) and changed the book's bad guy, an American frigate, into a French bad guy. The movie is set in 1805 amidst the Napoleonic war, whereas the book is set in the war of 1812. I guess American audiences aren't ready to see themselves as badguys or something...
It opens with some gorgeous scenes, panning over the ocean and such. Very pretty indeed. The movie quickly launches into one of the struggles between Captain Aubrey's ship and the French Acheron, which outguns, outsails and outmans the smaller British vessel. The battles, especially the close quarters ones are pretty horrific, with cannonballs being fired from close range, and woodchip and debris flying all over the place. It really does give you an idea of how gruesome that life could be at times... and reminded me in a way of the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan and Enemy at the Gates, though not as horrific as those two are (SPR taking the cake for grotesquery and showcasing the futility of war). more
@ 05:53 PM EST
Monday, December 1, 2003
PreZ brought me home roses after he went bowling on Sunday, for our second anniversary :) Today a card arrived from his mum for our anniversary... On the front it has Taz devil and the female Taz and it says "You two are still married?"
Inside: "Stubborn little devils, aren't you? Congratulations!"
Hehehehe. I like that she sends funny cards, they're so much more interesting than mushy crap.
Sunday evening we finally saw the third and final Matrix movie, which I enjoyed for the most part. more
@ 11:06 PM EST