Fondue: melted; or "I have a penis, and it needs rubbin’!"

The above are (thank goodness) much less related than one would think.

I departed the family abode Tuesday afternoon to hang out with Michael in his spiffy new (to him) Astro-something van. Our friend Rackrent was stuck at home baby-sitting her sick brother, so we dropped by to visit and give her my Christmas gift. Somehow, she ended up coming with us on our fun and aimless journey–the more the merrier, I say. Well, to a certain extent. But her presence was welcome.

It was decided, sometime after picking Rackrent up and purchasing a Christmas gift for a family member of Michael’s, that we simply must hit The Melting Pot after dinner. ‘Cuz apparently dessert is the best thing they serve. And it’s priced like they know it. The server was funny, and spoke in a manner much like The Family Guy’s character Quagmire, prompting imitations from Michael, and much giggling from me. So we had our milk chocolate and chocolate s’more fondue, and Michael turned it into his Christmas gift to us. Which is great, because that so would have been my Lord of the Rings money (or my driver’s license money!), so I am mucho, mucho appreciative. I have, however, been put off sweets for at least a month, I swear.

(Quick interjection to tell how North Carolina’s DMV system hates my fucking guts. So Monday I’m driving around, cramming the handbook for my exams, etc., etc., right? Go the DMV Tuesday mid-morning, when the lines are shortest and there aren’t but ten people stuck waiting outside, and a DMV worker/officer (?) comes out to tell us the computer system is down, so they can’t perform any work that would require looking things up on the system, like issuing permits or licenses. Oh, and by the way, it’s a state-wide failure, so no other DMVs can do it either, and they don’t know when it will be fixed. Of course, the DMV was closed the remainder of the week, so the next possible testing day is Monday. Grr.)

Following our Melting Pot fun, we dropped Rackrent off at home and headed to visit Chris in his dorm at UNCC. So began several hours Chris-filled fun. I finally saw that End of the World movie people have been linking to and laughing about. That narrator’s voice just killed me, although I didn’t particularly find the sequence of events funny. Odd, just odd.

Oh-khay, so… Upon arriving at the family abode at something till 03:00, I find Mother-dear and the Rat wide awake. Apparently, the Rat came down sick with the flu just a few minutes after I left that afternoon, and was fighting through an ever-rising fever, making everyone’s life miserable. Oh, joy. I did actually feel sorry for her, because she looked like shit, and must have felt worse, given her subdued manner. Do you know what it takes to subdue a four-year old?

Christmas day was a moderately uneventful for me, except that, despite numerous reminders, I managed to forget Michael’s brunch that morning, and arrived an hour late. Oh, and I managed to convince my mother to let me drive to the video store to pick up Bend It Like Beckham for my our viewing pleasure. I want my fucking money back on that, too, because as soon at the pre-wedding parties came up in the movie (when the sexy, sexy coach came to convice Mr. Bhamra to let Jess play in the finals), the DVD froze in several places on just about every damn remaining chapter of the moobie. Fuckers.

I, of course, opened all my Christmas gifts before Christmas, being the impatient biz-natch I am. Ali got me Spongebob Squarepants pajama pants; also in Ali’s package (although these I know my mother picked out) were a wonderful vegetarian cookbook, and this nifty bead eye-mask that you heat up or chill depending on the type of headache you have. Très cool. The old people (again, my mother) got me some books (yay!), more pajama pants (you can never have enough), and a foot spa therapy kit (odd, but cool). A very nice Christmas, all around. I haven’t fought with anyone (although the Old Man did get a bit hinkty when I was practicing driving and wouldn’t stop at the gas station so he could stock up on beer, but he should have known better), I got to see old high school friends at the brunch, I got to try The Melting Pot, and I got to see most of Bend It Like Beckham again.

And I’ll be getting a license soon!