The past week has been a much-needed recharge of my aging batteries.

Last Saturday night, Laura, myself and Zach flew to Vegas to celebrate Zach turning 30. We had a blast for three days/nights, including a goofy time at one of the strip clubs. Zach had a great time, and that was the goal.

We returned late Tuesday. Laura started her new job at the Ameristar (nice job, babe!) on Wednesday, and I went into the office for one day of catching up e-mail.

Turkey day consisted of two turkey dinners. One at Laura’s parents, and the late night meal at her brother’s. We stayed up quite late that night and were quite hungover in the morning.

Today and yesterday I’ve done zero, other than relaxing. The rest of the weekend will be more of the same, a great way to end a really lazy week. Only a few more weeks and I get another 2 weeks of time off from work. Yes!

Well, I hadn’t seen many outrageously wonderful movies this year, but tonight, Laura and I walked into one playing at the Mayan.

Antichrist was something I’d heard about recently, and something Laura had wanted to see for a while. It debuted in May or so at Cannes, did well there. Lars von Trier is the director, and while I’d never heard of the guy, he’s clearly onto something quite original and has been for many years as my google searches uncover.

So, this one isn’t for the faint of heart. You will cringe, or you are not human. I’m very interested in seeing more of von Trier’s work.

I love this quote of his I found:

Told that Antichrist ’s reception at TIFF (toronto film festival) was generally positive, von Trier replied, “If North Americans are happy about it, I’m not happy. I made a mistake.”

Willem Dafoe is insanely great, alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg who is equally solid.

I personally enjoy people trying to categorize this movie, and are calling it a horror film. I guess it made me jump out of my seat once, and generally creeped the hell out of me. But, it’s just what I call original cinema… why can’t that be a genre?

(I originally typed this on Nov 9 and never posted it)

Last week a pretty significant snowstorm dumped 18 inches where I live. It wasn’t all that terrible, as I simply worked from home for the two most snowiest days where driving was not recommended.

Halloween was a probably the most fun I’ve had since I was a kid. Laura and I went to a party at her brother’s friend’s. She rigged a scary looking doll to make it appear it was sticking its hand through Laura’s body, with a heart in the hand. She had me “dressed” as if I had a bunch of eyeballs coming out of my skin. The pictures are somewhere on Facebook.

This week, instead of work, I’ve been at Sun taking an introductory Java programming course. I’ve gotten a LOT out of it so far and look ahead to the final two days.

I’m not sure if I want to pursue programming as a career, but, it’s definitely something that interests me. I have never had any formal computer-oriented class in my life, so this was something new.

And! Lisa informed me this week that she’s spending the next three months working in Illinois. This means I get Adam full-time until she’s back, other than the holidays.

During this time, I am eagerly anticipating getting his schoolwork and his work-ethic in order. Apparently he recently has failed to complete some type of exam for one of the classes he’s already failing, which is hilarious considering all of the reminders and hints that he needs to do those kinds of things to simply PASS into eighth grade.

It’s been frustrating, since he’s not here four out of the five school days, so, now I will finally get to the bottom of what the fuck is going on with his inability to complete schoolwork.