Good News!

I was just informed this morning that Target wants to extend my contract through the end of March, and possibly extend it again later! This is good news, as it is one less thing for me to worry about this holiday season, because my current contract was set to expire at the end of the year and I didn't have anything else lined up yet.

I am also in the process of scheduling my practicum hours beginning in January for observing a School Counselor, and I have several possible leads. I am excited to begin this process of my education!

Christmas Wish List

Well, it's that time of year again - time to put together a list of things I want for Christmas (if money were not an object)!

- Lifetime supply of Cohiba Siglo 6 cigars (Cuban, of course)
- All-expense-paid European trip (with stops in Italy, Germany, and Ireland)
- 2008 Jeep Wrangler, Rubicon 4x4
- Log cabin in the mountains, with a lake front view
- To bat cleanup for the Twins, and hit over 50 homers a season
- The winning lottery ticket

Hey, who says that I can't at least dream a little?! Ho, Ho, Ho!

Thanksgiving Day Quotes

"I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form!"

- Winston Churchill

"Happyness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle."

- George Burns

"It [love] is like a cigar. If it goes out you can light it again, but it never tastes quite the same."

- Lord Wavell

"Eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die."

- Dave Matthews

Some Random Thoughts on a Friday Afternoon

Last night was an enjoyable, yet sad evening for me. I sat in my favorite chair, next to a crackling firelog in the fireplace, with an amazing Oliva Series G cigar in one hand and a glass of white wine in the other, watching Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle in Reign Over Me.

The movie was a very powerful one for me, as I found myself struggling right along with Charlie Fineman, played by Adam Sandler. Not that my current sadness compares to his, as he lost his wife and children in one of the airplanes that crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11, but in a strange way I could still relate to him. I also was drawn to the character played by Liv Tyler, who was his psychiatrist. Other than the fact that Liv is gorgeous, I know why I was drawn to her - she was a "healer," who just wanted to help.

Why the current sadness? I find myself dreading the upcoming holiday season, without a girlfriend once again, and knowing that I probably won't be spending time with any of my family for Christmas. Isn't it funny that even though I have a relationship with the God of the Universe, for that matter the Maker of the Universe, that I can still feel sad and lonely? I do have some really great friends, friends that I'd die for, friends who are like brothers and sisters to me, who are my allies, and a Father who knows me better than I know myself, yet I still struggle with sadness and loneliness...

Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie yet (maybe everyone else has but me), I highly recommend it.

Pass the Cheer!

Ho, Ho, Ho, it's that time of year again - Christmas at Starbucks! I am sitting at work, enjoying a grande, non-fat, no whip, Peppermint Mocha (even though I've had a few so far this year, this is the first one in the holiday cup). And according to the TCF temperature on the building outside my office window, it feels like winter with it being only 30 degrees!

Merry Christmas, a little early!