This evening, my father told us about how he used to drink vodka with his friends in his youth - they would ice it in the bottle (we put ours in the ice tray of the freezer overnight), then pour it into shot glasses. Before drinking it, they’d sprinkle some black pepper over the top and when the pepper sank to the bottom (since the vodka is slightly more viscous after being chilled overnight), it was time to do the shot.

So that’s what my father, mother, brother and I did tonight after dinner. My sister and other brother didn’t participate.

Anyway, it’s a good way to drink it and I’ll have to remember this in case it ever becomes necessary to drink vodka - if I’m stuck in a spy film or other such improbable situation where I must do a vodka shot to save someone’s life. I felt NOTHING going down - just cold. A few minutes later, I felt the beginnings of a warm flush, but that’s gone now.

I’m procrastinating now. My goal for tonight/tomorrow is to finally FINISH cleaning my room. I’ve started several times, but each time late nights at work or other such activities prevented me from completing this unappetizing task. And I haven’t been too torn up about it. However, at this point it’s sort of ridiculous. I wanted to fire up my Playstation and play a silly thumb-mashing fighter game but realized that I didn’t have a place to sit within controller reach of the TV/PS2 setup. SO - that’s the straw that broke this camel’s back. If I can’t sit down on Christmas Day and waste time playing a violent video game, it’s time to clean!!

As part of my current procrastination, I updated my amazon.com wishlist (that’s not there as a hint - more of a “look what silly things I want!” example - I’m not a “cam-girl” or anything.) Not that my family or friends or anyone uses this as a list of things to get me for Christmas or my birthday, but it helps me keep track of things I want. I pared it down QUITE a bit since most of the movies I wanted have been rented through Netflix.

I’m so glad I don’t have work tomorrow. I will actually enjoy cleaning since I’ll be able to sleep in and still get WORK accomplished. Mind you, I greatly enjoy my job and don’t mind going and working at all. I just like sleeping late when it’s raining heavily - like it is tonight. There is possible thunder, according to weather.com, and I am in the darkest green (high precipitation) areas in NJ (basically where the word NEW YORK is plastered) as indicated on the map below:

Hee-hee. I have my MP3s on random right now and of the 1500 songs in this particular folder, the random selection my computer bestowed upon me is Kelis’ “Milkshake.” Whenever I hear this song now, the image of Ben Stiller in a fat suit, topless, “shakin’ it” is burned onto my mind. Thanks, Dodgeball! It’s a great movie - don’t get me wrong. I own it. I paid for it with my own hard-earned money.

Never let it be said that my liberal arts education at a somewhat prestigious university prevents me from enjoying some stupid fun.

I guess I should find some other ways of procrastinating… like… uh… knitting or finishing my current book so I can start reading a new one. Having one going has never stopped me from starting a new one before, but if one needs to make/find excuses, they will appear.