Ohhh, how Christmas rocks sometimes!
I scrounged up just enough money to buy Norman what I wanted to buy him for Christmas. On the off-chance that he's bored in Seattle (!!!) and is reading this, I'm not mentioning too many specifics. But you see... it's not just a Christmas present; it's a sort of memento of me, because I'm leaving and when I see Norman next, stuff won't be the same... I don't think I'll ever be able to just wander up to him, screw around with his hair, and say teasingly, "baby, you're a genius." Hell, even when I came back from Seattle after TEN DAYS, we spent a month or two getting things back to normal...
Norman read me something once -- I can't remember any of the details, but it was lovely. It was something to the effect of: Right now, in this moment, you're swearing undying love for so-and-so, and promising to love them forever. But almost inevitably, that will change. So does it mean you were lying to yourself when you swore you'd love them forever? And when you no longer feel those feelings, or you no longer feel them in the same way, does that mean they weren't real? Most people, I guess, just try to convince themselves they were deluded. But you HAVE HAD that feeling, and thus, they'll never really be invalidated. So, in some way, you WILL always love so-and-so for all of eternity and so on, even if, ten years later, you barely remember thinking that. Nothing that has ever happened really gets entirely invalidated.
So, in all likelihood, my friendship/whatever with Norman will kind of fade away when I move, but RIGHT NOW, I adore him, and no matter where I end up a year from now, or ten years from now, I WILL HAVE adored him. Right now IS forever. In Tom Robbins' words, Today IS Tomorrow. (Tom Robbins has words for everything...) So Norman's Christmas present is more of a statement than a Christmas present. It's beautiful; it's well-loved; it's a little bit beat-up, but it reminds me of Norman. It's perfect because it's a little quirky and kind of imperfect. A sort of twist on the "beautiful-because-it's-broken" look.
I hope it makes him happy. It's made me happy just finding it and thinking of how much I'd love to have it for him.
I went to my mom's for Christmas. Have I mentioned lately that my family is totally freaking weird?
They are.
My youngest brother, John, gave me a Weezer CD (he was practically in diapers when *I* discovered Weezer -- but it's good to know that 15-year-old's still appreciate Weezer as much as Helena Thomas did when she was 15...) and a pen. Not just ANY pen. One of those bank pens that get chained to the counter. John, evidently, recalls the massive quantity of bank-pens I've liberated from their chains... Dude, this kid knows me WAY too well...
My middle brother, Joseph, also gave me a pretty sick gift. A little background: when I came home from Santa Fe, I gave both of my brothers a disposable plastic barf pan filled with little pieces of quartz. The barf-pans were stolen from the emergency room at the hospital in Santa Fe; I'd been in a car accident, which evidently triggered a few klepto-chemicals to start flowing in my brain. The quartz was from the Santa Fe mountains. Quartz isn't native to the Northeast, so far as I know, but it's pretty, so I brought tons of it home. So THIS year, Joseph gave me the following objects, stolen from his place of business: a plastic barf-pan, a plastic urinal, a plastic DENTURE-CUP (I swear it!), and a huge X-ray file filled with brochures about barium enemas and outpatient surgery. GROSS! My brother rocks, hardcore. And truly, I can come up with some awesome uses for all of those things... I'll send the brochures to my penpals to give them a giggle. I'll use the urinal as a portable orange-juice container, and let people wonder. I'll use the barf-pan as a candy-dish, and let people cringe over it. And research and things can go in the big file.
Now, what was I saying the other day? Something about getting people presents only if you know them well enough to get them something that will make them grin?
My mom and Penny got me this GORGEOUS black sweatshirt, lots of little bath things, some boxes of fruit tea, a new coffee-decanter (I drink right out of those without bothering to use mugs, but my old one got broken), some shampoo and conditioner (Pantene!), a copy of the "MEMENTO" video ("I figured it was weird enough for you!"), and a gold watch with a blue face, to replace the one I accidentally killed by falling wrist-first into the Snoqualmie River. Let me tell you, I have the coolest family! They're just weird enough to appreciate my tastes...
All in all, it was quite a merry time.
I'm going to sign off prematurely and go put some of that neat bath-stuff to use...
~Helena*