The holiday has passed once again and now the bank account needs to recover from a shopping spree. The good news is that I didn’t use my credit card for one purchase, the bad news is that I have about fifty dollars until January 14th. That leads me to my primary New Year’s resolution, which is for me to save money. Part one of this goal is to pay off any credit card debt. Part two is to maintain at least a $3000 balance in my checking account at all times and part three is to begin saving money so someday I won’t waste money away on rent. Obviously this won’t be easy, but I am determined to accomplish these goals by the end of 2005. Any donations will be gladly accepted in the pursuit of this goal ;o)

Okay now back to the past week. Jennifer and I did Christmas on the 23rd, we started by walking through the monsoon to Rustic Kitchen. The food was yummy, afterwards we opened up presents. I got a nice new long wool coat, a 1-UP tshirt, new iPod headphones, hot chocolate and a photo for the house in Maine. Dec 23rd Christmas Photos

On Christmas eve I stayed in most of the day and did laundry. Later in the afternoon I left and went to my dad’s house for a small party. I went over to Nissa’s house for her little party and then I drove to Somerville. I basically repeated that for the next two days. Drive to Amesbury… hang out… drive to Somerville. On the 26th Jennifer came back from CT and we drove up to Amesbury for the 39R Christmas. 39R Christmas Photos

It was snowing heavily, but we still ended up driving to Maine. It took four hours, but we finally made it to Bethel. The next morning we woke up and the high was supposed to be 5 at the summit and 17 at the base. We went up to the mountain and signed Jennifer up for her lesson. I met her after the lesson and I was happy to see a big smile on her face. We sat in the lodge a little while to warm up and then skiied a few runs before going home. Later on we went to dinner at Noelle’s house and had an amazing time. It was so nice to be having dinner with such great and interesting people. The next day we woke up to find the temperature was five degrees below zero. This morning we took our time and got up to the mountain at 10:30. The first two hours of the day we stayed down in South Ridge and Jennifer successfully skiied every trail down there before taking a break. After the break we headed for Dreammaker. I was relieved when Jennifer said she liked it. She did very well and didn’t have any problems at all. We stopped up at the Peak Lodge and had lunch before taking one last run down Dreammaker. We made it down safely and went back home. Jennifer said she had a lot of fun and really enjoyed skiing. Woohoo!!!! Jen Skiing

Here is something I found while looking for something my grandmother used to say many years ago:
“GOG.”

(TO THE AUTHOR OF “JONG,” PUNCH, SEPTEMBER 19TH.)

O singer sublime of Beeyah-byyah-bunniga-nelliga-jong,
It isn’t envy, the green and yellow,
That makes me take up my lyre, old fellow,
And burst with a fierce cacophonous bellow
Across the path of your song.
I want to propose another name,
Unknown to you and unknown to fame;
It is like the sound of a hand-sawn log
Or the hostile hark of a husky dog:
Chagogagog-munchogagog-chabun-agungamog!

This cracker of jaws is a lake, I’m told,
A lake in the U.S.A.,
And first the Indians, the red sort, owned it,
But later to Uncle Sam they loaned it,
Who afterwards made no bones, but boned it
In the fine Autolycus way;
And though life wasn’t a matter vital
He kept with the lake its rasping title,
Which recalls the croak of an amorous frog
Or a siren heard in an ocean fog:
Chagogagog-munchogagog-chabun-agungamog!