Merry Christmas

And I will ask you to forgive any typos, since I'm using a foreign keyboard with sticky keys.

So Merry Christmas to my Christian friends, and a happy Token Winter Holiday to my fellow heathenry, etc. Kwanzaa, Hannukah and all its variant spellings, Ramadan, ad infinitim. May you have a festive break in your winter to enjoy friends and family before returning to 1-3 more months of gray skies. Except for my friends already in the Caribbean, who will continue enjoying the same humidity and 80 degree temperatures they suffer the remaining 11 months of the year.

And I'm only two weeks away!

I got my roommate assignment. I met my roommate on valuemd, which I recommend because then you can request your roommate, and it's someone you've talked to and at least have some idea of who you're dealing with rather than getting randomly lumped with someone.

I'll also be occupying a double kitchenette at True Blue, and I'm told those rooms come fully equipped (stovetop, microwave, closet, desks, bathroom, outlets (though none in the bathroom for your blowdryer types), but are the size of a postage stamp. All the more reason to get your roommate assignments yourself!

I'm at my dad's place in Winston-Salem. Awww... Ish, mom, and dad under the same roof. Thweet. We spent a nice Christmas Eve dinner at Denny's since no other place was open. We opened the presents my aunt, uncle, and cousins sent, which we really need to reciprocate, but haven't had a chance because we've been on the road.

And about the road. I'll upload some pictures later, because currently, my pictures are on my laptop, not on this one, so you'll have to wait with 'bated breath for my West Virginny pix. Very pretty countryside, but I knew that from a high school detour trip to visit my cybermom on the way to D.C.

What else... well, en route through Indiana, we came across a huge lit billboard along a superhighway advertising genuine Amish cooking. I found this somewhat suspicious. Mom, naturally, had to try it out. I pointed out that the Amish were not known for their regular lighted advertising along superhighways, but I was overruled. Perhaps the Indiana Amish are more savvy or something.

Now, I expect at least a little Disneyish pretending in my exploitive side trips, and these folks didn't even TRY. To their benefit, we were seated by a hostess wearing the traditional Amish garb of jeans and a tight shirt, and did enjoy the traditional Amish dessert of soft serve ice cream from a traditional Amish soft serve ice cream machine with traditional Amish Hershey's chocolate syrup straight from the bottle. Just like Ma Amish used to make.

I'm not sure how accurately represented the music was. I don't recall the Amish liking the Beach Boys singing Christmas carols, but I didn't pay too much attention during the Amish part of my American history course. Do they celebrate Christmas? Of course, I don't really think any Amish people are going to answer me... "Hi, I'm Amish and I love your blog, but you're misrepresenting my people."

So yeah... this restaurant was sort of a Cracker Barrel meets Hometown Buffet, so while the food was good as was the service and apparently the "Amish" part was that the food was home/restaurant cooked (as opposed to what?) and some traditional Amish dishes, they had a gift shop packed with *genuine* Amish stuff. Essentially, they have factories where they whip Amish people into baking pies and cookies and stuff, and then they sell it at high mark up in a highly advertised, technological marvel of an Amish buffet and give the Amish... I don't know.. six nails for a barn building for it.

And yes, I will stoop to making fun of the Amish. You will also note that below I stooped to making fun for the Mormons for having a crappy capital city. Why? Because being politically correct requires energy, I'm lazy, and I make sure I pick on people that are unlikely to kick my ass. If you see me pursued by a gang of suited gentlemen on bicycles and bonneted women, don't interfere, because you will know I finally got what's coming to me.

Oh, and while I'm offending people, to scientologists: Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... that is all.

For Christmas Eve, I stayed in a Super 8 motel which did not *technically* allow pets, thus I had to *technically* smuggle my critters in, and then couldn't find my computer battery so I had to issue the half completed blogpost below before my puter died on me, which sucks, because it was the first hotel we'd stayed in that had its own wi fi! D'oh!

Tomorrow, I head to Greenville to my mom's apartment where I'll be alternately crashing (spread between friend, dad, and mom) until I head island-bound.

So hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday, and I can only hope he DIDN'T go to Jared.