Whine and Cheese

I haven't posted much in the last week because I was out in my hometown for the holidays. While I have internet access on my phone, it's not easy to make LJ entries on it.

My best friend Brian and I went on Monday night to see the new Star Wars movie, which was a wonderful mix of nostalgia and newness. The story was captivating and mirrored a lot of what I recall from the original Star Wars Episode IV film. No spoilers, but I was incredibly entertained and am already looking forward to the next installment.

I had a pretty good time back home, spending time with friends and family. What surprised me the most was the weather, which was ridiculously warm. Christmas Eve was 73 degrees F and sunny all day. It certainly didn't feel like Christmas-time.

As usual, I did need a bit of "me time," so I snuck off a couple of times to the local coffee shop to get myself a bit centered and do a bit of cartooning.


Obviously, I had Santa on the brain. I enjoyed doing these and the coffee shop was a great respite from the holiday craziness.

Last night, my family unwrapped Christmas gifts as we usually do. I bought my 9-year-old nephew the game Simon. He continued to unwrap toy after toy, including a go-cart, and he kept coming back to the Simon game, as did my other nephew... and my brother... and my brother-in-law. It was ironic to see this kid get so much for Christmas and ignore the expensive for a relatively cheap game.

After breakfast with family, I headed home today. It felt good to get home.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today has sucked for the most part. The great weather is gone with the wind and the rain. Due to some bad directions from online sources, I got lost three times today, which just added to the long drive and a growing frustration.

The one place today that really irritated me was Beverly, KY. A bare blip on the map, it is almost impossible to get to without driving incredible slow thanks to the winding roads and mutliple hairpin curves. The rain didn't help in that either. I've done a lot of cursing in the car today.

There were a few good moments:

• I got to see my college buddy Greg and his wife Carla for a few minutes this morning. I really need to catch up with them.
  
• I snagged a few more photos that I'll post later of some neat mountain scenery.
  
• I sat near a very handsome daddy bear at lunch. He was a priest. I have many photos on my cell, but the lack of signal here makes sending them to my email account near impossible. They'll be posted soon too.

While I was at lunch, I did a quick toon of my Grizzly character in his civilian identity as Lukas the bar owner. It's behind the cut and work-safe.
( Keeping the Peace -- Work Safe Toon )

While sitting in a very dull conference call, I noted some very odd names for cities and towns on the Kentucky map in the conference room. I couldn't help jotting some of them down to share.

( Cities and Towns of Kentucky )

Who knew that the people who settled here had such strange senses of humor. :)