Despite the fact that this past Christmas was one of forty-degree weather, no sun, and a presence of heavy fog, I believe it was one of the most enjoyable Christmas’ that I’ve ever had. The family was in high spirits, the dogs were having fun, and little Hobbesy cat was sitting up in my room where he is, unfortunately, confined playing with present wrapping that I brought up as well as a stuffed hedgehog that I got him a few days prior. Not to mention the fact that Santa had left a certain Santa-colored Nintendo DS under the tree complete (bundled with Mario Kart DS) along with a great number of other goodies.

Currently, Hobbes is residing inside a cage at our local vet building recovering from his joint surgery — front claw removal and manhood removal — waiting to be picked up by me at roughly 9am this morning. It has been incredibly odd not having him around, as this would be the first time in more than a month and a half that he’s been gone. I think I actually had a slightly harder time falling asleep last night without him running around the room like a crazed feline menace. It seemed fairly odd that he was required to stay at the vet’s for two nights though, as his surgery should have taken place early on Wednesday morning. The doctor is also sending him home with little kitty pain medication, confirming the fact that he is, indeed, my cat.

My vacation effectively ends on Wednesday, January 4th. This fact alone isn’t that big of a deal, but keep in mind this just means that I’m traveling back down to Ann Arbor on that day. Classes start back up on Thursday. And — this is the part that annoys me — this means that we’re ending our Christmas vacation, one that is quite short by most Universities’ standards, so that we can come back for a mere two days of classes. I’m curious as to who decided that the students of the big, bad University of Michigan should only have a two week vacation (week and a half, if you were an unlucky student who had exams until the last day of exams on Friday, December 23rd) just to come back for classes on Thursday and Friday. Seems a bit moronic. And, while I’m at it, I’m curious as to why the English 323 (Creative Writing for fiction or poetry, my particular classes being fiction) professors want to wait until January 2nd before letting any of the students know whether or not they passed the application process into the class. Why not decide this kind of thing before break so people can reschedule if need be? Argh.

My break has primarily consisted of three things: family, TV shows and movies, and games. It’s been a time of almost pure relaxation for two straight weeks. I get to eat some good food — including my beloved frozen pizzas which I can never seem to cook (at all) down at school — watch a number of movies/TV shows throughout the course of each day, and enjoy some incredibly video games. Over the course of this break I believe I watched, Alien, Aliens, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Die Hard 2, Die Hard 3, Serenity, Moonlighting (Season 1), rewatching some episodes of the first season of Lost, some Related, some House, and some Firefly. I’m sure there is more I can add to this list, but my memory is starting to fail me.

As for the agmes, well, they’re all just so awesome. For Christmas, I got Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), and then for the DS I got: Mario Kart DS, Nintendogs, and Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble; I later picked up Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Nintendogs pisses me off because I hate the little talking-to-the-fake-dog gimmick, even though the rest of the game is enjoyable. Viewtiful Joe: DT is … interesting. I mildly enjoy it whenever I throw it in, but the thought of throwing it in is just unappetizing for whatever reason. And this leaves Mario Kart DS, Castlevania, and Dragon Warrior. All I can say about this trio is that they’re some of the most enjoyable games I have ever played. Mario Kart DS is the best offering of the franchise — period. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is one of the only Castlevania games outside of Symphony of the Night (I’ll also be picking up Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow for the GBA soon, as I hear both of these are fantastic as well). And then there’s Dragon Quest 8… Which is simply the best RPG I’ve played since Final Fantasy VII. I’m about ten hours into the game, and it’s simply an incredibly well-done classic RPG; it has more Final Fantasy to it than the FF franchise has had in years. I can only hope that the rest of the game is as good as the first bit of it has been.

In closing, here’s the greatest picture ever: