MB and I had a nice time at my parents’ this weekend. Having him there really makes a difference – being there on my own is sort of tortuous, just me and my folks and their weird questions.
We didn’t leave till the afternoon of Christmas Day. I had to drag MB out of bed at 12 so we could leave by 1 or 2. We ended up catching a 3:15 train, which got us in around 4:30. There weren’t too many people, but more than we expected.
Then it was the usual: lots of eating. I tried not to pig out as much this time. Over Thanksgiving I was eating pie every few hours. Also, MB set up the Mac Mini my brother and I got for our parents. They’ve been thinking about getting a new computer, and the PC is horrendous for their favorite activity, downloading Korean soap opera videos and burning them to disc. With the Mac Mini, they can more do those things more easily, as well as connect directly to the TV. They needed a couple of extra parts so we had to wait till the next day to go get them.
That night we had Mongolian hotpot for Christmas dinner, like we did on Thanksgiving. MB has grown to be a fan of it, especially the spicy dipping sauces and very thinly sliced beef.
The next day we hit the mall to get the cable to connect the Mac Mini to the TV as well as a wireless router. Needless to say, it was a madhouse, wall to wall stereotypical suburbanites with their terrible frosted hair, giant sports jerseys, and awful Ugg boots. But at least we got what we needed for my parents. Afterwards MB and I ducked into the peace and quiet of Border’s, which surprisingly was pretty empty.
We had planned on leaving that night, but it took a while to get back from the mall, and then for MB to finish setting up the computer. So we decided to leave on Saturday, which pleased my parents greatly.
MB set up everything pretty fast. Before we knew it, my parents’ TV had been transformed into a giant computer monitor, and my mother could watch her stories directly from the Internet. My brother did a great job setting up the display for them, with a giant cursor/arrow and their “homepage” which sits on his website, and shows the three sites they go to for their shows. The wireless mouse is pretty neat. It acts like a remote, but takes some getting used to. I kept wanting to move it like a regular mouse with big movements, but it’s actually more like a laser pointer.
Saturday we just hung around and relaxed. We both got up fairly late, 10 for me, 11 for MB, had some lunch and just read our books till our 3 o’clock train. Last week I finally finished that Bach book MB had been raving about. I understand why he likes it – he’s studying music and like Bach is very scientific and mathematical – but I thought it was boring as hell. There was interesting information in it, but it wasn’t told like a story. It was like, here’s all this information.
Now I’m reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt and it is SO GOOD. It’s really well-written with interesting characters, and plus there’s mystery and suspense. Inspired by that I ordered a couple of other “literary mysteries” from Amazon with the gift card my brother got me – In the Woods and and The Likeness by Tana French, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.
The 3 PM train was extremely crowded. We were able to get two seats together, but there were two noisy kids behind us, and then people standing in the aisle towards the end. What we didn’t know was that there was a hockey game at Madison Square Garden that day. Lots of tourists are awful, but lots of tourists in Devils/Rangers jerseys are even worse. That night we were so worn out from the crowds, we just stayed in aside from dinner at our favorite Italian place.
Today I’ve got to do some laundry, though it’s so mild out, all I want to do is walk around.
Sounds like a good mix of crazy and quiet. All the best of the holidays!! That Mongolian hotpot sounds awesome! Yum. Now I’m hungry! Good thing J and I are about to head out for dinner! :)