Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Month in Review and of Things to Come

It's a bit early for this post, I know, but I plan a few other "year in review" post in the very near future.  The Christmas season has come and gone!  Yea!!!!  Back to regular life; which is no bad thing.  Outside of a stressful month of work (compounded by the holidays, and other people's holiday stress) December was a blast.

I had a party the first weekend of the month with a stellar drink menu and full bar that was the envy of every true mixologist.    There were Margaritas, Papa Dobles, Blood and Sand, Tom Collins, The Pegu Club, Long Islands, Spring Break and Mama's Milk (the latter two were of my own device and extremely well received) plus anything else you could think to concoct.  I had top-shelf everything and small fortunes worth of freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice.  It was beyond decadent and nice to feel like I'm not broke-to-def for once in a while.

I also was humbled by a beverage this month; rum of all things.  Here I think I know this particular liquor from front to back and out of nowhere comes the mention of "Hot Buttered Rum."  Not wanting to remain ignorant to a drink that uses my favorite spirite I quickly made up a few batches with different spices.  The conclusion is that hot buttered rum is not for me...   Hot booze in general doesn't strike my fancy, but I do feel more veteran for the experience.

I also saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D and IMAX and all that jazz.  I'll say what I always say about seeing movies: it was fun and I had a great time.  I see about three movies a year and don't expect much and while this film had large deficiencies they were trumped by the badassery of the dragon.  Perhaps that should be a lesson for all film makers.  If you include a badass looking dragon moviegoers will forgive a lot.     

On the reading front I am bound and determined to get through Jane Eyre before 2011.  That said, I've got my work cut out for me.  I don't get along particularly well with the Brönte sisters but as with Wuthering Heights, I can't quite justify putting this book down, nor do I get excited about sitting down to read it, but once I get going it's enjoyable enough.  I also finished The Silver Chair and A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, 20th Century Ghost by Joe Hill.

This was also an absurd month for book purchases: six.  It's not that big of a number but considering my large stack of already unread books and the fact that I've told myself I'm not buying anything more until said stack has evanesced, (I'm not 100% sure you can conjugate evanescence in the manner I previously did, but it felt right so I said, "what the hell" and went for it) six is a lot.

December is also looking to be a big blogging month for me as well; not that that statement of fact arouses anyone's interest, but I thought I'd mention it.

Apropos 'things to come,' 2011 will be a year of wait-and-see.  In the first third of the year I hope to hear that I got accpeted into someones Ph D program and if not hopefully I'll find new full time employment.  I already know the reutine of the latter and there are many aspect to the former that I hope to undergo.

Let the waiting begin.

2 comments:

Terry Weyna said...

So no hot buttered rum for you, eh? I hope you found a real recipe and didn't just use my off-the-cuff memories of the drink, which I haven't had in decades.

I like Jane Eyre much, much more than Wuthering Heights -- in fact, I don't much like the latter at all, though my husband continues to attempt to persuade me that it's a fine work of Gothic fiction. Just not my taste. Jane, on the other hand -- well, I think I identify with Jane.

Happy new year, Chad! We're staying in with steaks, baked potatoes and a good cabernet, especially since I have a grievously bad cold. Hope your 2011 is everything you want from it -- especially with regard to that PhD program!

Chad Hull said...

Happy New Year and only the best to you Terry (should I not "Speak" with you sooner)! Hope that cold passes quickly--they are all kinds of over rated.

I found a couple of recipes for hot buttered rum and as I'm no amateur chef doctored them accordingly. My friends said, "that's really good" a couple times, but it's just not for me. Hot rum --my favorite liquor--will takes some warming up to for me to accept.

As to the Jane Eyre, I like it better than Wuthering Heights too, though I think it could have started around page 150 in any given edition. I've got two-hundred pages left before the new year. Wish me luck!