Been a little lacking in content lately here at the Landslide in my Ego. Sorry about that. Seems like I’m not the only one though. I think the blogosphere has been on vacation this week.

It’s funny, I thought taking some time off from work (I’ve been off this whole week) would allow me to post more. But between the stress of work and the stress of the holidays, I guess I really needed to just slack off this week and relax.

Sometimes I wish I could just go back to being a kid at Christmas. So much less to worry about. This year the stress just seemed to keep coming, whether it was the frantic shopping up until the LAST MINUTE (which I hate doing, but couldn’t seem to avoid this year), or the frustration at being the ONLY person decorating the tree (okay, so my brother and Edo helped a little), or the staying up all night wrapping presents. I don’t know.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like it was all bad. It was really great to spend time with my family, and I love my parents’ house at Christmas. And all in all, I felt better at the end than I did at the beginning.

Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying this holiday season. I’ll be back to my old prolific self before you know it.

Until then, there are a few pictures after the jump. (more…)

This Week’s Leg Bloggers:
–Stan

1) Franz Ferdinand - Walk Away

2) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood

3) Bloc Party - Price of Gasoline

4) Keane - Bedshaped

5) The Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

6) James Blunt - Billy

7) Electrelane - Oh Sombra!

8) Bruce Springsteen - Silver Palomino

9) The Bravery - The Ring Song

10) Scissor Sisters - Better Luck

BONUS: The Chipmunks Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)

Remember making paper snowflakes when you were a kid?

Well now you can have all the fun without having to clean up the little bits of paper that always go everywhere.

Make-a-Flake

The guys that run the little coffee joint I patronize often make little designs in the foam on my latte–mostly hearts, or the occasional flower. It’s neat.

So after I got my morning fix, I remembered a site that I first saw on Blinq last week: Latte Art.

I thought it was so cool.

The site is in Dutch, but that should’t keep you from enjoying the pretty pictures. :-)

Got another mention on Philadelphia Will Do yesterday (third paragraph). Check it out!!

Here’s to my Great Uncle Alan.

One of the sweetest, kindest, gentlest souls you could ever hope to meet.

And the only person I would ever allow to shake my hand for a full 10 minutes.

I’ll be away at his funeral today.

See you on Thursday.

Yo, are you on your way home?

No, I’m rolling a blunt here with my friend.

Oh, okay, so you’re still at the office—wait, what did you say?!

Tough guy voice: I’m rolling a blunt. You know, a doobie. (Aside: That’s the lingo, right?) We’re rolling blunts and knocking back some beers. And then I’m gonna snort some coke off a stripper’s ass.

Oh… so is that like a mini bachelor party before his girlfriend comes to town?

No. So what are you doing?

Oh me? Well I’m standing on the corner at 38th & Market trying to whore myself out, but I got no takers.

Bitch, you better get some action!

Well it’s too cold to show any skin, so it’s not going very well.

Well bitch, you know you better cut me in on 60% if you get any business.

Are you kidding?! Maybe if you were here to protect me. But when I’m working it alone with no pimp, I keeps ALL the money. You got that, BITCH?

UPDATE: I was wrong about the number of speakers. DaveT still wins.

DaveT

To think, he almost lost everything with his annoying imitation of Bart Simpson.

And now for the answers that have kept you on the edge of your seat:

1) How many speakers are in Kate’s apartment?

We have 32 33 speakers.

Living Room
-Main system (6 7 speakers + 1 subwoofer + 2 bass shakers mounted under the futon)
-Edo’s computer (7 speakers + 1 subwoofer)
-Kate’s computer (2 speakers + 1 subwoofer)

Bedroom
-Bedroom system (5 speakers + 1 subwoofer)
-Speakers connected to main system in the living room (2 speakers + 1 subwoofer)

Bathroom
-Speakers connected to main system in the living room (2 speakers + 1 subwoofer)

2) How many teeth are in Kate’s mouth?

I have 24 teeth.

I was missing one of my permanent (12 year?) molars on the bottom, so before I got my braces, they pulled my two remaining baby teeth, and dug out the molar that I did have, and then moved everything foward with the braces.

When it was time for my wisdom teeth to come out seven years later, the dentist decided hey, what the hell, let’s remove two extra molars on top so you have an even number of teeth gnashing against one another. So they yanked 6 teeth out of me in one fell swoop (two days before Christmas, I might add).

So here I am with only 24 teeth.

3) How many pairs of shoes does Kate own?

Well, I won’t tell you the true number since no one guessed it exactly. But DaveT came alarmingly close with his guess of 73. And that’s all I have to say about that.

This album warms my disaffected holiday spirit.

With songs like “Oi to the World!” and “Christmas Time for My Penis,” what’s not to love?

Just don’t play it in front of your grandmother.

Enjoy.

This Week’s Leg Bloggers:
-Stan

I will be announcing the winner shortly… stay tuned.

You have less than two days, people!! Send me your entries before tomorrow at midnight!

CONTEST!!

Time for the Friday Random Ten:
Hit “shuffle” or “random” on your favorite digital music player, be it on your PC, your iPod or other music playing device, and report on the first ten songs that it spits out. No skipping the embarrassing stuff.

1) The Clash - Revolution Rock
2) The Ramones - Psycho Therapy
3) The Ramones - Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
4) Dead Kennedys - When Ya Get Drafted
5) The Clash - Spanish Bombs
6) Velvet Underground - What Goes On
7) The Ramones - I Want You Around
8) Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen
9) The Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away
10) The Clash - Somebody Got Murdered

Bonus: Sid Vicious - My Way

Post yours in the comments, or do it on your blog and leave me a trackback.

And yes, Stan beat me today.

I’ll learn how to make a decent omlette. Until then…

I’ll just call this… egg pepper scramble.

Don’t know if I have much to say today. I’m so tired—I’ve been a little under the weather this week, and I still have so much to do before the upcoming holidays, both at home and at work. And my great uncle passed away last night. So I’m not really in a typing kind of mood today. Meh.

Continue the thoughts on Christmas, please.

Oh, and enter THE CONTEST!!

Alright, I feel a need to go on the record here and say this…

ENOUGH WITH ALL THE CHRISTMAS BULLSHIT!!!

Every year it just gets worse, and I’m sick of it.

I’ve become so cranky that it’s ruined all the fun and joy for me.

I’m a cold cynical shell of what my Christmas self used to be.

We can’t go on like this, America.

So I am going to tell you how we can start fixing it.

First: Take back the music.
Christmas music should only be played in the month of December—even better, limit it to just a couple weeks. But if we could just keep it contained within December, I believe we would see a marked improvement.

Now, having said that, there are certain songs which must be retired from rotation and never ever played again. No matter what.

They are as follows:
“Wonderful Christmastime,” by Paul McCartney
“Please Daddy, Don’t get Drunk this Christmas,” by John Denver
“Silent Night,” sung by Stevie Nicks
“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” sung by anyone
“Feliz Navidad,” sung by anyone

This list is just a start. Suggestions are welcome.

Second: Decorate responsibly.
There should never be any holiday decorations or Christmas lights until after Thanksgiving. Until I gets me turkey and pumpkin pie, I don’t want to see freaking Santa Claus and goddamn Christmas trees all over the place!!

Stores should keep their holiday displays under wraps until the week before Thanksgiving. They get an exception to the “post-turkey” rule, so they can be ready to sell stuff to us on Black Friday. But a week should be more than enough to get ready.

We must permanently ban those awful giant inflatable lawn monstrosities. There’s just no excuse for them. Or at least make it legal for me to sneak around and set them on fire.

Third: Stop bitching about the “War on Christmas.”
There’s no goddamn war! It’s all a conspiracy concocted by Bill O’Reilly and people with a persecution complex and nothing better to do.

Try to remember that if someone says “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” it doesn’t make them an ungodly pagan.* After all, there are a few non-Christians in this country, and what’s wrong with trying to include everyone?

In being ignorant or insensitive about another person’s faith or culture, you exclude them. Do we want to make Christmas the time of year when we ignore everyone who doesn’t share our particular set of values? It reminds me of grade school. “We’re all in the Jesus club, and you other kids can’t play.” That doesn’t seem very Christian, now does it?

Remember freedom of religion? That means everyone’s religion, not just yours. And that means you have to exercise tolerance and maybe make a few compromises once in a while. In order to live among other humans, everyone in this world makes compromises each day. So why should this be any different?

My family celebrates Christmas, so to them I usually say “Merry Christmas.” I have many Jewish coworkers and friends, and I usually wish them a Happy Hanukkah. But I’ve always used the phrase “Happy Holidays” with everyone.

I always saw it as simplified way to say “I hope you enjoy whatever holidays you might be celebrating this year, including secular ones like New Years, as well as all the fun holiday-related activities that you might do on the days before and/or after the actual holidays.”

Another thing to keep in mind is that many people who consider themselves atheist or agnostic—or those who just don’t give religion much thought at all—still come from families with Christian traditions. Remember that religion is not only about faith. When religious traditions exist long enough, some of them become part of culture as well.

My family celebrates Christmas. We decorate a tree. We sing. We exchange gifts. What am I supposed to do? Sit in the corner?

No one is trying to take Christmas away! It will always be there. How, if, or when people choose to celebrate it is a personal choice.

Bill O’Reilly says he’s only trying to promote respect for a holiday that’s celebrated by 95% of Americans. But if 95% of us celebrate it, how is it really in any danger?

*Which if they were, would of course be their constitutional right.

Last night, while preparing to send out my annual Christmas/holiday/winter/whatever cards, I realized that I’m really quite a crappy friend.

As I was going through my contact list, I couldn’t stop thinking about the people I’ve neglected or with whom I’ve completely fallen out of touch.

Some of it isn’t my fault… but a lot of it is.

I am a horrible, terrible, no good, very bad friend.

I feel so guilty.

If you haven’t sent me your contest entry, you’d better do it soon! I stop taking entries at 11:59 PM this Saturday, and I want to hear from each and every one of you. Six more days, people!

This Week’s Leg Bloggers:
-Stan
-DaveT

At Holz’s request, we have Marah. I’m not too familiar with them, but from what I’ve heard, I think they’re pretty good.

Local grown Philly boys, I might add.

I’ll leave this up for at least a week—until I decide it’s time for Oi to the World, as promised a couple weeks ago.

My latest SEPTA rant was mentioned yesterday on Philadelphia Will Do. Very cool. I guess some people actually like it when I run my mouth off. ;-)

I’m blog of the day at CrabAppleLane! Thanks!