My holiday vacation - in a bit more detail, if a bit late - consisted of:

Lots of driving, snow, epic Apples to Apples tournaments, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a sweater vest, a ridiculous amount of awesome loot, carting my dog all over the Midwest, snuggling my cousinephew, vast amounts of karaoke, chex mix, sugar cookies, Avatar: The Last Airbender, bananagrams, Will Arnett Night, bowling, Up in the Air, more driving, a space museum, a salt mine, Mystery Science Theater, grandparents, cousins, Sims, more cookies, Heat Wave by Richard Castle, and the majority of my time spent on one couch or another.

Ahhhhh...

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Media run-down:

Heat Wave by Richard Castle - I love that this book exists. It's short, fast-paced, and nothing special, but the parallels with the show are fun - as is imagining Castle writing it. My favorite part was Ryan and Esposito's book incarnations, Raley and Ochoa, who are collectively known as Roach. So what do we call Ryan and Esposito? Rypo? Espyan? Not as fun.

Up in the Air - A lovely movie that is both sad and funny, filled with brilliant performances, and a realistic but glimpses-of-hope ending.

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Watched more than half of the first season of this with Vads while lounging on her couch, then promptly sat down to finish it when I got home. First season complete, seasons two and three in my Netflix queue. It's sweet and fun, I love the mythology of the benders, Aang is adorable, the fighting is awesome, and in general it's just a whole lot of fun. I can't wait to see where it goes - and how awful the movie this year will be in comparison. (A fun game: looking up the movie's cast on IMDB and getting worked up over how all the bad guys are Indian, Middle Eastern, or black, and all the good guys are white.)

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I saw Sherlock Holmes this weekend - finally - and I have lots of things to say. ( Of course. Also, spoilers. Lots. )

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Murphy's Law attacked my afternoon.

First, the store I needed is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays (what?). Then the iPod dock I got for Christmas is broken. It still functions, thankfully, as my mother tossed out her receipts already, but still broken. Then I had three - THREE - baking disasters in one afternoon. After that, I gave up trying to make fancy desserts for my belly dance girls and just bought some cheesecake at Safeway. At least the chocolate-dipped strawberries came out all right. If I'd managed to ruin them, I'd have to ban myself from my own kitchen.

I took the afternoon off for this?

I watched some Arrested Development (Gob!) and read some Eoin Colfer (Airman - much darker than his usual fare, and a bit slower, but very good) to make myself feel better.

Happy 2010, everyone!

2009 in random stats:

Books Read: 53
Non-fiction: 4
YA (middle-grade and teen): 18
Classics: 4
Books Re-read: 2

Top Five Favorite Books of 2008:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Plays Seen: August: Osage County, Wicked, Spring Awakening, Kooza

Concerts Attended: Flight of the Conchords, Vienna Teng (three times), Brad Sherwood and Colin Mochrie comedy show

Places Visited: Australia, San Diego

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And now to tackle my friends' list.

(My apologies to the Wiccans in the audience for nicking off with your Charge.)

The moon is so beautiful tonight. A shining white - a pearl - three-quarter waxing moon in a grey sky, the type of evening twilight just after sunset with that soft grey with the tint of blue and purple.

It's nights like this that I see a different side of my Goddess, one I honestly haven't connected with in a long time. I'd almost forgotten it was there. It's the side that brings peace, not just to me but to everything. Like a soft whisper of solace or comforting satin. Genle light.

I suppose every time I get an epiphany I focus on that part of her, and forget the rest. So tonight I tried to open up and take all of Her in... but not [i]all[/i] of Her, even, just sort of this part but extended to understand the rest... if that makes sense... but I wasn't in the right mindframe. (I was throwing a ball for the dogs.) So instead I just felt overwhelmed and had to "look" away. (Could be that I'll always feel that.)

Of course there's always the chance that they're all different goddesses. Oy.

Maybe I'll meditate on this tonight. She's being particularly elusive.