A Christmas Merger

Continuing the current trend of large-scale mergers and acquisitions, it was announced today
at a press conference that Christmas and Hanukkah will merge. An industry source said that the deal had been in the works for about 1300 years.

While details were not available at press time, it is believed that the overhead cost of having twelve days of Christmas and eight days of Hanukkah was becoming prohibitive for both sides.

By combining forces, we're told the world will be able to enjoy consistently high-quality service during the Fifteen Days of Chrismukkah.

As part of the merger agreement, the letters on the dreydl, currently in Hebrew, will be replaced by Latin, thus becoming unintelligible to a wider audience.

In exchange for this concession, it is believed that Santa's vast merchandising and distribution network will be opened up for all Chrismukkah participants.

Despite strong speculation, a spokesman for Christmas, Inc., declined to say whether a takeover of Kwanzaa might also be in the works at this time.

He then closed the press conference by leading all present in a rousing rendition of "Oy Vey, All Ye Faithful."

Halloween & Other Happenings

By insistent and repeated demand, I have Halloween wear:

Maid Marian & The Friar: Note The Authentic Footwear

So . . . that happened. Halloween was actually a fairly early night. Something about semi-frozen tangerine jello shots and forgetting to schedule dinner into the festivities, if I recall correctly. Not to worry - the fun was hardly over. Waking up the next day, it was the beginning of Cuenca Days.

Cuenca Days is not the official name of the holiday, but it's what it feels like. The whole town is pretty much off work for 4 or 5 days depending on your job, and every night there is a major fireworks show. One night I saw five shows as each barrio (neighborhood) expressed its civic pride and one-up-manship for the year. It was like the 4th of July, Groundhog Day edition.

I attempted to take a little time off work and check things out. They had some massive Arts-In-The-Park kind of stuff, but I ended up being fairly *yawn* about it all. I was expecting . . . more/different? Not the same kinds of things in every booth. I did the street and the park shows, as well as a seriously underwhelming taste event at La Esquina de Las Artes, but I didn't come home with anything other than sore feet.

Sadly, class resumed. For the newbies, I am teaching Saturday mornings as well as four days during the week. It's not like its a heavy load, I'm just a bit out of practice with teaching! The class during the week is International Relations, and I have to study as much as they do to keep up. I laughed at myself Thursday night, finishing up my stuff for Friday's class - definitely university days all over again.

This week, now that the holidays are over, work is crazy! I have a ton of projects to finish up - far more than there are hours in a day for working. Not so good. It's nice to be wanted by the clients, but I'm struggling to keep up now that I have to play educated profesora part-time. Getting through this week should be interesting, and I'll be glad to update when it's over and I can breathe again!

Happy Easter!

However you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a fabulous day. I'm back in Nebraska with the family, so I know that my day will be filled with bad jokes, good food, and great company.

I'm too old for Easter Egg hunts, officially (although unofficially I will still be competing when I can) so I have to settle for Easter Egg humor:

The Halloween Style Eggs

The Murder in Progress



Cute Egg Couple



The Why Aren't You Enjoying Your Easter Egg

Have a wonderful Easter!

This Little Witch Grew Up

Seen here with the siblings who've tolerated me for all these years!

When I was a kid, I had a lot of plans for when I was 30. Since 30 represented the age at which I would be practically a geriatric, I was sure by that time I would have a beautiful house, lots of kids, a career, money, and a pony. I've no idea why the pony was in there, given that I haven't been on a horse in years, but you know, hey, they were daydreams.

The reality is a lot different.

For starters, no ponies. You see the sling on my arm in the picture? I haven't gotten any more coordinated with age. All those ballet lessons and the gymnastics have managed to keep me out of a wheelchair (thanks Mom & Dad!) but I still have a penchant for really high heels (thanks Grandma!) and a tendency to run off to foreign countries with uneven sidewalks.

The other thing is that I don't feel particularly geriatric. Frankly, I'm having a hard time even feeling like I'm 30. I woke up this morning feeling the same as I did when I was in my 20's. Actually, I felt better than I did for most of my 20's, because last night I got a full eight hours of sleep ;-)

There's no house full of kids, my career is non-traditional, and money is something to be spent on airplane tickets instead of stockpiled. So my 10 year old plans for my old age have not exactly come to pass, but that's okay.

Instead of what I had planned, I've had a few trips around the world and amassed enough memories to bore my eventual grandchildren to tears three times over. Uphill. Both ways. Barefoot on broken glass, BEFORE there was Internet.

What will the next 30 years hold? My sister asked me today and you know, I have no idea. Fortunately, the day is young and at heart, so am I.

No Snow, Just Foam

I looked out the window of the cafe today and was surprised to see that it looked like it was snowing in the street! What a horror, right?

Fortunately, it isn't snow. . . it's just foam being spewed from an upstairs window at passing cars. And I'm lucky it's not water balloons!

You see, the carnival week is coming up, and the local tradition is to pelt each other with water, usually in the foam of squirt guns and thrown water balloons. Recently, foam has also become popular as it is less damaging on clothes. Thus, in the weeks before the carnival (February 14th is the main day) everyone starts testing out their ammo.

Girls get to be especially targeted, although I've seen more than one school girl at the bus stop by my house turning the tables. I'll confess that I'm planning to get in on the mischief.

My apartment, you see, overlooks a bus stop. Crowds of people gather there throughout the day, just below my dining room window. We've decided that if we get a hose, we can pretty much go to town on the locals from above with very little chance of retaliation, even from the nine year old kids with supersoakers as big as their heads.

He, he, he . . .sanctioned mischief. Is that a holiday or what?