Thanksgiving Breaks and Bruises

Am I sleepy? Drunk? Recently lobotomized? All of the above? Who cares? I was off on Thanksgiving Break. For the first two days I did absolutely nothing... and it was everything I thought it would be. I lounged around... slept late... trolled the internet for hours on end...

(Actual picture of me in my pajama pants)
... and of course, I did it all in my pajama pants. Those wonderful, wonderful inventions made out of soft flannel. Oh how I love my pajama pants. For roughly 50 hours straight, I wore my pj bottoms and a succession of my oft-neglected Metallica t-shirts. Oh glorious rapture!
In addition to loafing, I was able to finally rent some DVD's. I sat down one night and watched Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven. It was very good! The storyline was interesting, the acting well done, and the production values were top-notch. It tells the tale of a village blacksmith who finds out he's the illegitimate son of an aristrocratic crusader. He follows him back to the Holy Land to become his successor and serve the king of Jersusalem. After the idealistic king dies, he in turn is succeeded by a zealous prince who sparks another war with the surrounding Muslim armies led by the great general, Saladin. The blacksmith stays behind to guard Jerusalem after the princes armies go out and ultimately lose to Saladin in the desert. The blacksmith then leads in the defense of Jerusalem until he forces a truce with Saladin, saving the people who live in the city. The main critique I have for the movie is that it's slightly implausible to believe some of the characters in the movie, especially Orlando Bloom's character. He's supposed to be a simple village blacksmith from the Middle Ages... yet he speaks and thinks like a Philosophy and History Major from Berkeley College. If you just pretend that his character is actually a time-traveller from the 21st century, the whole story makes a lot more sense. He and some of the supporting characters, especially his father played by Liam Neeson, seem to look upon the Crusades with a tolerant view more akin to a 21st Century perspective, as opposed to a "God Wills It! Kill the Infidel!" mentality which I imagine was a whole lot more common back then. But all in all, a good movie. But when you watch it, try the timetraveller idea, it'll make more sense that way.

"Always be on your guard Anakin... I mean Bruce... I mean... Amsterdam. I mean... Orlando. Geeze, which character am I a father-figure to, now, in this movie?"
Wow Tom, thanks for inviting me to the football game this year!

And the football game was a great success. Yeah, everyone will be limping into work on Monday, but we all had a great time. True, and we took many a lump... but 'twas all in good fun! The Anonymously Evil All-Stars once again were victorious over the Rag-Tag Band of Misfits 6-3. However, it was a moral victory for the Misfits as they didn't need to borrow the All-Star's Brian "Pimpdaddy" Craine to score any points this year. Sadly, $teve and Hurricane Andrew couldn't participate due to untimely illness, but they were present in spirit. Later on, we were joined by Chris and Maggie, who provided pizza and burgers... and Bishop, Mikey G, Kruger, and Z organized some beer pong in the dungeon. Z, Kruger, and I exchanged engagement stories, and are now planning a support group for expectant grooms. And Bishop shared the beauty of a Coors Lite Mini-Keg with us all, in a heartwarming moment of holiday cheer... and beer. Mikey G Esquire just grinned the whole time... mainly because he just passed the bar exam, so more power to him!

And now, alas, I return to the trenches. This time I'll be learning about skin. For three weeks. I don't know how much one can know about skin... but I'm damned sure it's more than necessary. I'll be wrapping up on December 21st. I can't wait!

Feedback Question of the Day:
"What was your favorite part of the Thanksgiving Break?"