PTSD

All those damn peeps, and nobody ate any of them

That's right, I'm still the owner of four boxes of marshmallow peeps. Everyone looked at them, there was some discussion of them (which makes twice in one week that I've been involved in a conversation about explosions and microwave ovens) but nobody ate them.

You'd think somebody would have figured out that they were only still in the packages because they go stale 1.6 seconds after you open the plastic wrap.

I can't be bothered to create a narrative arc out of this stuff, so you're getting a list. Again. As usual.

1. Right, so, about that pie. It was only a little pink. Barely even pink at all, I say. Certainly not so pink as to be a "color not found in nature." And besides, it was meant to be pink. Totally intentional, that color. What color do people expect a jello pie to be, anyway?

2. I forget, until we have a big dinner like we did yesterday, how much I miss family gatherings back home. Mind you, I generally hate them while I'm actually there, and I can almost never figure out what possessed me to show up for family reunions. But holidays don't seem terribly festive if there aren't ten conversations going on, and kids running around underfoot and refusing to eat anything but dessert. Plus, it's an excuse to make all kinds of food that isn't at all healthy.

3. That said, I prefer parties out here to family holidays--there's all the entertainment value of people swinging a pillowcase full of wet spinach, with none of the questions about 1) our lack of children; 2) my decision to live anywhere but my hometown; 3) "those damned liberals"; or 4) why I don't just go out and get a real job, and quit messing around with all that school. Plus, I'm pretty sure no one in my family has ever asked me to describe the merits of the new Doctor Who over the old one. Or told a joke about orcs.

4. When we have a dinner, we only have to invite the people we like. As a result, everybody seems to get along well, and there's no need to smile and be friendly when I'd much rather hide in the basement sneaking shots out of my grandfather's whiskey selection. And there's absolutely no guilt in breaking out LOTR Risk in the middle of it.

5. No, I don't think I drink too much. But I grew up in a very quiet town, and I'm easily bored. So all of my funny stories, and most of my sad ones, involve copious amounts of alcohol. It happens. And in my defense, that bottle of Everclear was just sitting in the closet, gathering dust. *Somebody* had to take a shot of it. I was just being a good hostess.

This morning, the call for a night of drunken strategy games still seemed like an excellent plan. Maybe I should start organizing something when my sister and the Genius Nephew leave next week.

6. For some reason, I thought I was strange in checking out people's bookcases when I visit them. Turns out, not so much. Nobody can resist a full bookshelf.

I'm a little worried about how anyone knew which books were mine and which weren't; sure, the IR theory books are presumptively mine, but I'm surprised some of the others were so obvious. Okay, my use of the verb "grok" may be a bit of a giveaway.

7. I'm also worried that people couldn't tell. I don't really want all the vampire stories and horror novels chalked up to my purchasing habits. Or even some of the more annoying sci-fi stuff. I mean, give me *some* credit when it comes to fiction--I don't just read everything that comes my way.

8. Strike that. I do read everything. But that doesn't mean I always like it. And when I say read, I generally mean, "skim the first chapter and then quit for a while." Unless it's something that really catches my attention. Those books can be identified by the way the covers fall off when you open them. Or by the packaging tape on the bindings. Or by the fact that I read them when I was in grade school, but the replacement copies have shiny new covers.

Then again, that last bit isn't something you can tell by looking at them. Maybe this needs to be a separate post. All about our home library, and how it got to be that way. I'll get right on that, as soon as I finish plugging stuff into LibraryThing so that I can find that copy of Power/Knowledge that I *know* is around here somewhere.

9. Maybe I'm loud and flighty and obsessed with getting all of the food just right. But I'm pretty sure that everyone who celebrated easter-ish with us yesterday already knew that, and that they only occasionally wonder how S puts up with it.

10. So long as no one falls off the balcony, I say it's a successful party.

posted by Elizabeth @ 10:55 PM