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Dec. 24th, 2017 08:27 pmHoly shit this weekend.
Snowfall in Vermont was intense. So intense that our usual route to NJ lead to several skids from six inches of snow that refused to stop falling. We had to turn around and took the highway down instead. According to Michelle, if she knew that it was going to be this bad, we would have told her parents that we would spend Christmas in VT.
Even as I type this, there is an ice storm that is hammering our neighborhood. They predicted eight inches today and even before this all came down our driveway was three inches of powder on a layer of black ice on packed powder.
So normally, the route to get to NJ is 6 hours and this is at a lazy route. That Friday took us 11 hours. 10 goddamn hours on the road with an hour of stopping and going to clean our windshield gutters, picking ice out of the wipers, and a trip to a buffet that made up for the crappiness with steak and sushi. Most of the time wasted was the five hours driving 35 on a highway followed by 25 on one lane roads where a lady with a LA plate full of stuff created a conga line of cars while she talked on her phone (I really wish I was exaggerating).
Michelle's parents at least got the point and understood that this trip down was tracherous. My parents do too, and we're logistically planning the trip up so that we won't end up hitting the snow on the way up (hopefully) and the plows will keep the highways clear when we get there.
So here I am typing away at her parent's on this laptop. We visited my parents where my dad gave me some literature from a "get rich quick" success story guy (I like to think of these as masturbation sessions from successful people who think one way can generate instant success), and I visited my friends where I realized that I actually am okay with being away from them. I mean, they're decent people and all, but I find the masochism and the general bitching about everything to be off-putting. I've been away long enough to see why that is unhealthy and I feel comfortable with that.
Before that though, I should probably also mention that I did something similar with Michelle's friends, where we went to a museum that felt more like a photo session for her friends' kids. I know that wasn't the total endgame here, but a lot of the photos seemed to be about getting shots of the kids interacting with the exhibit. To be fair: I felt this way even going in, and the cold bitterness of the rain combined with a wonky connection made me pay more attention towards playing Pokemon Go instead (which I think is pretty awesome now with the weather system), where they had some interesting exhibits like a collection of cylinder music machines and a few clockwork toys, but also an array of antiques that seemed like I was going through your typical trip to an antique store (am I an antique snob?). There were a few art pieces that impressed me though, like some book art made from repurposed books that went from beautiful symbolism (one was called "Queen of the House" which was a folding panel of Queen playing cards that actually unwrapped to reveal empty windows of hanging laundry--a sort of play on the idea of feminist power and the actuality of it at certain times). For the most part though it felt like a lighter version of the AMNH. Not a bad thing overall for 10 bucks I guess.
It then turned into a trip for lunch at a sports bar where I felt like the wait staff didn't understand English and/or were afraid of actually dealing with people. One of their kids spilled a cup of water twice, which lead to customer support that had to be referred to people twice before a manager was willing to give us napkins and haul this soggy diaper of napkins off the table. The place couldn't even figure out how to make a decent corned beef hash.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised as I later told Michelle about how the entrance had a few newspapers on display: all of them celebrating Reagan and bragging about Trump's success. Michelle said she was glad she found out afterwards as she would have complained if she knew earlier.
After that, we delivered gifts around and I'm happy to say that people were happy with the things we gave out: pickled green beans, apple butter, bacon jam, onion jam, sharp cheese, caramel popcorn, and a tiny sampler of maple syrup.
My friends appreciated the gifts too. Nothing as elaborate but the same bits and pieces of the whole deal. I feel like people are surprised at how much stuff I get them, but to be honest it's cheaper for us since I plot this out in a long-term view. Michelle's surprised at the reactions too, it's not that expensive for us since it's more about the technique and equipment we have. Someone even suggested we sell these things. Personally, I don't think it would go very far since this is more common up there, but I guess I can see why they would think this way.
Michelle's parents' priest came by to enjoy dinner and dessert with us and her father eagerly performed the chasing of the fire engine, who passes through the neighborhood to celebrate the holidays and whom he gifts with a bottle of wine. In thirty minutes they will open presents.
I'm starting to fall asleep and I feel like I am looking too distant from everyone else and I think the parents are poking me about this so I'll cut this short.
Merry Christmas folks, here's hoping tomorrow is filled with pleasant things on your end.
Snowfall in Vermont was intense. So intense that our usual route to NJ lead to several skids from six inches of snow that refused to stop falling. We had to turn around and took the highway down instead. According to Michelle, if she knew that it was going to be this bad, we would have told her parents that we would spend Christmas in VT.
Even as I type this, there is an ice storm that is hammering our neighborhood. They predicted eight inches today and even before this all came down our driveway was three inches of powder on a layer of black ice on packed powder.
So normally, the route to get to NJ is 6 hours and this is at a lazy route. That Friday took us 11 hours. 10 goddamn hours on the road with an hour of stopping and going to clean our windshield gutters, picking ice out of the wipers, and a trip to a buffet that made up for the crappiness with steak and sushi. Most of the time wasted was the five hours driving 35 on a highway followed by 25 on one lane roads where a lady with a LA plate full of stuff created a conga line of cars while she talked on her phone (I really wish I was exaggerating).
Michelle's parents at least got the point and understood that this trip down was tracherous. My parents do too, and we're logistically planning the trip up so that we won't end up hitting the snow on the way up (hopefully) and the plows will keep the highways clear when we get there.
So here I am typing away at her parent's on this laptop. We visited my parents where my dad gave me some literature from a "get rich quick" success story guy (I like to think of these as masturbation sessions from successful people who think one way can generate instant success), and I visited my friends where I realized that I actually am okay with being away from them. I mean, they're decent people and all, but I find the masochism and the general bitching about everything to be off-putting. I've been away long enough to see why that is unhealthy and I feel comfortable with that.
Before that though, I should probably also mention that I did something similar with Michelle's friends, where we went to a museum that felt more like a photo session for her friends' kids. I know that wasn't the total endgame here, but a lot of the photos seemed to be about getting shots of the kids interacting with the exhibit. To be fair: I felt this way even going in, and the cold bitterness of the rain combined with a wonky connection made me pay more attention towards playing Pokemon Go instead (which I think is pretty awesome now with the weather system), where they had some interesting exhibits like a collection of cylinder music machines and a few clockwork toys, but also an array of antiques that seemed like I was going through your typical trip to an antique store (am I an antique snob?). There were a few art pieces that impressed me though, like some book art made from repurposed books that went from beautiful symbolism (one was called "Queen of the House" which was a folding panel of Queen playing cards that actually unwrapped to reveal empty windows of hanging laundry--a sort of play on the idea of feminist power and the actuality of it at certain times). For the most part though it felt like a lighter version of the AMNH. Not a bad thing overall for 10 bucks I guess.
It then turned into a trip for lunch at a sports bar where I felt like the wait staff didn't understand English and/or were afraid of actually dealing with people. One of their kids spilled a cup of water twice, which lead to customer support that had to be referred to people twice before a manager was willing to give us napkins and haul this soggy diaper of napkins off the table. The place couldn't even figure out how to make a decent corned beef hash.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised as I later told Michelle about how the entrance had a few newspapers on display: all of them celebrating Reagan and bragging about Trump's success. Michelle said she was glad she found out afterwards as she would have complained if she knew earlier.
After that, we delivered gifts around and I'm happy to say that people were happy with the things we gave out: pickled green beans, apple butter, bacon jam, onion jam, sharp cheese, caramel popcorn, and a tiny sampler of maple syrup.
My friends appreciated the gifts too. Nothing as elaborate but the same bits and pieces of the whole deal. I feel like people are surprised at how much stuff I get them, but to be honest it's cheaper for us since I plot this out in a long-term view. Michelle's surprised at the reactions too, it's not that expensive for us since it's more about the technique and equipment we have. Someone even suggested we sell these things. Personally, I don't think it would go very far since this is more common up there, but I guess I can see why they would think this way.
Michelle's parents' priest came by to enjoy dinner and dessert with us and her father eagerly performed the chasing of the fire engine, who passes through the neighborhood to celebrate the holidays and whom he gifts with a bottle of wine. In thirty minutes they will open presents.
I'm starting to fall asleep and I feel like I am looking too distant from everyone else and I think the parents are poking me about this so I'll cut this short.
Merry Christmas folks, here's hoping tomorrow is filled with pleasant things on your end.
