It is almost Christmas but, to me at least, it doesn't feel like it! There are a few reasons for that.

Part of it is the weather. We have been unseasonably warm. Typically it would be in the mid-60s (around 18-20 Celsius) and just gorgeous. We have had temps in the 80s!

Part of it is because I have no decorations up. I gave up decorating the inside of the house long ago. Cats and Christmas trees don't mix well! This is my first holiday without kitties so I could have gone to town with decorations and a tree but I just wasn't feeling it. I usually put up outside lights along the carport and framing the front door but I wasn't feeling that, either, this year. Mainly because I don't think my hip would play nice with repeatedly climbing up and down the step stool.

I think the last reason why it isn't feeling Christmas is because this is just a work week for me. I have regular work days Monday and Tuesday and then starting Tuesday night at 6 pm I am on call until Thursday morning at 8 am. Tuesday nights are my regular call night. The other tech in the department and I alternate holiday call. Just bad luck the holiday came after the regular night of call. That sucks so hard but that's part of what you deal with when you work in a hospital.

I do have one Christmas tradition and that is to take a quick trip to Las Vegas right before Christmas. One reason to do it this time of year is that rooms are pretty cheap. I started going on these trips with my son, right after my divorce a little over 20 years ago. My ex-husband never wanted to go on vacations, anywhere or for any amount of time so we didn't. This was a new tradition that I wanted to start with just the kid and I. He was about 14 or 15 when we started going up. We used to go for a couple of nights and catch some kind of show, maybe go to a museum or find some other cool things to do. Over the years the trip has turned into just an overnighter and has involved playing games at the Pinball Hall of Fame and checking out Tiki bars.

The pinball place is usually such fun but the past couple of years we've been disappointed. I feel almost churlish complaining because this is an all-volunteer organization. But this year I think there were more "dark" (non-operational) pinball tables than ones that worked. And many of the old arcade games, if they were on, were not working properly, to the point they were unplayable. The directional wheel on the Tron game didn't work so you couldn't aim at anything. And the Dig Dug game had no sprites! It was very sad. At the same time the older games are not being kept up, they do have a few rows of the new pinball machines that are all super bright lights and video screens and other obnoxiousness. They hold pinball and other game tournaments and I think those machines must be the ones that get the love because they bring in the money. Of course, the older ones *could* bring in the money ... if they worked. So, all in all a disappointing experience.

The tiki bars were great! A couple years ago we found one called Red Dwarf, a combo tiki-punk bar. It's so cool! In addition to tiki drinks and other non-tiki libations, they serve food. They have Detroit-style pizza and also the most awesome garlic bread. The white sauce to dip it in is just divine.

The other bar we make sure to hit is Frankie's Tiki Room, which is a 24-hour tiki bar. Great drinks and the menu helpfully classifies how boozy they are with a skull system. I try to stay with the 3-skull drinks although my son is more a 5-skull person.

If you ever want to experience tiki bars in Vegas, there is also the Golden Tiki. It's located in a strip mall and doesn't look like much from the outside but it's a tiki wonderland inside! And, I read about a new tiki place that just opened this year, Glitter Gulch Tiki in the downtown area. It looks pretty cool and has good reviews.

Reading

I haven't been really watching or listening to anything worth putting in its own section but I have been reading a bit! I finished The Rook and quite enjoyed that! Like I said last week, I had watched the TV series based off the book and it starts off very much like the show. I was surprised at the tone of the book. The show was serious. The book got to be kind of, well, I don't know if flippant is exactly the word I want but kind of like that. Not goofy but just a little smart-aleck. Which is fine! I just wasn't expecting that since the show wasn't like it. It was an enjoyable book and I wouldn't be adverse to reading the follow-up novel.

After reading that I got 2 books from the library that had been sitting on my wishlist. I wasn't quite sure what I was in the mood for so I checked out The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill, a fantasy/magical realism book you can read about here and Eruption by Michael Crichton and James Patterson. That's the one I chose to start with first and it's a typical Crichton story that involves imminently erupting volcanoes and even more dire things. This is a quick read and I expect to be finished with it in the next day or two.

Happy Holidays, if you are celebrating something this month! Til next week!