A Christmas Carol

Twas the day before the day before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even my lonely self.

I've gotten all the shopping done, the cards sent, the decorations finished, the presents wrapped, yadda, yadda, yadda...

All that's left to do is wallow in my misery. It's so nice to know that I'm being thought of this holiday season. I tried so hard to remember all those who meant so much to me this past year, and all I've got to show for it is a bunch of cards from last year. The calls I've made go unanswered. The messages, unreturned.

What's left for me to say is simply this:

For those of you who took the time to remember me, thanks for a wonderful year. To the rest of you, a hearty fuck you. I hope you get what you want most of all...in spades, you bastards.

A little light reading

The other night, I finished Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code and was amazed at the attention to detail that he put in the book. Yeah, I know I'm a little behind the millions of others who've already read it, but I don't usually have the time to read much anymore.

Such a fast-paced read, I was well over halfway through the book before I knew it. I could almost feel myself in the locations that Brown was mentioning: hearing the sounds of the Paris traffic; the smells of the centuries' old artistry; the chill in the crisp April air. I could go on and on.

I found myself constantly checking out the facts that the author brought to light, such as the horizon behind the Mona Lisa not being equally proportioned, the pagan symbolism literally pouring from within The Church, the missing "Holy Grail" in Da Vinci's The Last Supper and fact that the artist himself is self-portraited onto it. I was amazed to find the amount of research that was done.

A little light in the character development, it does, however, show the lengths that people (and organizations) will go to in order to serve their beliefs.

I know it's a bit out of order, but I've started reading Angels and Demons in order to find out more about the main character, Robert Langdon. It's also got me waiting (somewhat impatiently, mind you) for the next book. It's going to be a long wait, from what I hear.

I can only hope Tom Hanks can do a decent job as Langdon when the movie comes out in 2006.