It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas!

Just returned from: Las Vegas, NV

It's Christmas Eve, and Mr. Weatherman is telling me rain and snow (in the mountains... please, I'm from LA) are coming!!!

عيد ميلاد سعي (Arabic)
Merry Christmas, mate! (Australian)
Boas Festas! (Brazilian Portuguese)
圣诞快乐! (Chinese)
Joyeux Noël! (French)
Fröhliche Weihnachten! (German)
メリークリスマス! (Japanese)
즐거운 성탄! (Korean)
С Рождеством! (Russian)
Feliz Navidad! (Spanish)
Maligayang Pasko!!!! (Tagalog)
Noeliniz kutlu olsun (Turkish)

I Left My Heart Somewhere in the Tasman Sea

Just returned from: Melbourne, Australia

Pros:

• The air is clear.
• The water is blue.
• My greenbacks made me rich!!! ($1 USD=$0.65 AUD)
• Vegemite isn't that bad. (Small quantities only.)
  
• I love TimTams and Shapes. (And at $1.79 each, it's even better!)
• For the most part, the people are halfway decent. (One exception: People who publicly embarrass others in front of large groups. I'm not naming anyone specifically, but you know who you are...)
• Aussie BBQs are fun. Food fights after Aussie BBQs are fun too.
  

Cons:

• I ate a kangaroo and was later called a cannibal. (read me)
• I ate one too many dim sums and Four'N Twenty Meat Pies for my own good.
• People talk funny there. (My American accent isn't THAT weird.)
  
• People drive on the opposite side of the road.
• Water flushes counterclockwise. (There is some truth to the Simpsons.)
• Spring is in November. (That's just wrong.)
  

Gotta Love American Politics

(Sorry... The video may only work from the States. Something about copyright laws.)

A Sigh and a Hug... (Here We Go Again)

"Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos." --Charles M. Schulz

When Will It All End?

Every four years, a little thing called the Olympics happen. Right before it all begins, I couldn't even care less about it. Then, slowly, I get sucked into the excitement and spend the next 16 days glued to my TV watching sports and trying to find out the results before it's shown "live".

So, yes, I did cheer for Michael Phelps with thoughts about my abandoned swimming career and what could have been. I tried to guess the ages of the gymnasts as they fling, contort, and flip their bodies in the air. I sympathized with Yao Ming and his little minions when they were annihilated by the Americans. And, yes, I even took in a game of the ever-exciting sport of handball.

13 days down. 3 more to go. Then, I can sleep again. I can't wait.