I hope you all had some happy holiday times. Mine were pretty good. Only pretty because I had a bad cold through most of them. I'm still trying to shake it. All that stuff about zinc and vitamin c and echinacea making you get better faster? It's bullshit. I have proven it, a one-woman scientific study. But I was still able to get my snack on and my gift-giving on. My 86-year-old newly-widowed Grandmother was in full-effect, so I got my guilt on, too.

New Year's resolution: Use "getting my blank on" EVEN MORE THAN I ALREADY DO.

I also got to feel my unborn niece have the hiccups inside of my sister. Neato. Her brother-in-law, as it was told to me, complained about their choice of name for the baby, saying it wasn't "typical." Thank God my personal sphere does not contain the use of the word "typical" as a positive attribute.

And finally, last night, the Return of the King was seen. I had watched the Two Towers in the afternoon so I was fully prepped. As expected it was amazing, spectacular, heartbreaking, grand, and beautiful. It even had a Voyage of the Dawn Treader-esque ending, with the sailing off into eternity. (Tolkien would hate that comparison.) I'm awaiting the extended DVD version of Return for a scene in which poor cast-off Eowyn gets her budding romance with Faramir out in the open. I loved Eowyn's ass-kicking, and though I was almost sure that the "I am woman, hear me roar" aspect to it was an invention for the film, I was assured afterwards that it was not. I guess the next step for me would be to actually read the books, though I might have to wait until I actually retire to do so.