7ToF: Hark the Harold

1. (My dad's first name was Harold. For a long time I had some kind of hazy idea that the Herald Angels were his personal angels.)

2. I'll get it over with early this time: The Last Jedi was great. I don't know what people are complaining about. Haters gonna hate. It was a little too long, and yes, that bit at the casino was .... sort of.... pointless. But there were also several moments where I caught myself thinking-- this is the Star Wars movie I always wished they'd make. I need to see it again.

3. Through an unplanned bit of serendipity, I ended up going to see two movies in one day. See previous item about The Last Jedi, but earlier in the day, I took my mom to see The Man Who Invented Christmas, about Charles Dickens writing A Christmas Carol. In spite of its ridiculous title, it was quite good. I'm not a Dickens expert, but I know enough to know that they played a little fast and loose with the facts. But if you can put that aside, I really enjoyed it, and my mom loved it.

4. Lots of book blogs are publishing 2018 Reading Challenges (Book Riot, Modern Mrs. Darcy, PopSugar, and dozens of others). I thought this was the coolest idea back in 2016, and then again last year, but you know what? Both times, after picking a challenge and printing it out, I never thought about it again. I guess I have no problem coming up with books to read. ha.

5. So for 2018, I'm falling back on my own personal challenge from way back when. I've become so enthralled with renting e-books from my library's website that I have not read one single physical book from my own bookshelves in .... I can't even remember when. It's been months. My Goodreads "To Read" list has been entirely unchanged for over a year. So my personal challenge to myself for 2018: read one book a month that is sitting on my shelves already. Atonement, Middlesex, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Night Circus, Heartburn, Plan B, Go Set a Watchman, Cutting for Stone, My Struggle.... I could go on, but you get the idea.

6. When I lived in the south, I thought that when it snowed, it always arrived in big fluffy flakes, gently floating down. In our area, sometimes it does. But usually if it's coming down in big fluffy clumps, it doesn't last very long, so there's not very much of it. When we're really getting dumped on, it looks like salt coming very fast out of an enormous salt shaker. Sideways.

7. Which we've just seen, because we've got about a foot of snow on the ground as I write this (Thursday night), with more on the way tomorrow. White Christmas, indeed.

Last night was the shortest night of the year, so we're already headed toward more light. I hope that's an apt metaphor. Happy Solstice. And Merry Christmas, since I probably won't post again before the big day on Monday. I hope you will be surrounded by loved ones, as we will be, even though we will sorely miss our loved ones far away.