Word of the Day: Homemade

home·made
1. made or prepared at home, locally, or by the maker's own efforts

I have been to four Christmas parties this week. For each I have made some incredibly involved appetizer or food dish, prepared entirely from scratch with my own hands -- very homemade -- and might I add, delicious. But I've come to realize that no one cares if you bring something homemade or if you stop by the store for some cheese and crackers. As long as the food is edible, they will eat it, and they don't care if you slaved over it for approximately 2 seconds in the line at Giant, or if you lovingly prepared it over the course of five hours at home. Therefore, I have decided to no longer make things at home for public consumption at parties where no one cares. Sorry everyone -- no more chili cheese bread, ginger beef wraps, chocolate kahlua triffle. No more.

Merry Christmas!

Word of the Day: Disquietude

dis·qui·e·tude
–noun the state of disquiet; uneasiness.

I type this as I am listening to a choir of cicadas hissing in the background. That might not seem abnormal, since cicadas naturally make their home here in Washington D.C., but if you add the fact that I am sitting inside a building right now and it is December, then you've got a strange conundrum. The fact is, the noise is not cicadas, it is a loose or leaky pipe that hisses invariably as air is forced through it. The noise has lasted now seven days.

This would not be a problem for the normal human being. But alas, I am not normal. We knew that already. I have super-sonic hearing. You laugh, I know. But it is very true. I sometimes hear noises that no one else in the world would ever notice unless I was kind enough to point them out. My coworkers often balk at me for pointing out noises such as the cicadas to them because they were blissfully unaware until I mentioned it. But why should I suffer alone because of my "special" hearing? I might have to buy a pair of noise reduction headphones just to survive.

You're laughing again. But there's an actual hormone, called aldosterone, that can increase your hearing as you get older and higher levels are produced. If my hearing gets any better, I won't be able to live in a normal society.

Today is my dad's birthday. And just so he knows that I'm thinking of him, I thought I'd broadcast it all over the Internet.

Word of the Day: Clairvoyant

clair·voy·ant –adjective
1. having or claiming to have the power of seeing objects or actions beyond the range of natural vision.

Astrology. Not something I regularly pay any attention to. But now a study done by the auto insurance industry tells what drivers are best and worst based on astrological sign. Is it possible? Well, I agree with their findings that Scorpios, along with Sagitarians and Capricorns, are the best drivers. I tend to consider myself a fairly decent - okay in general a superb - driver. But how much can be told by adding up the number of people filing claims by sign? I have a feeling the findings are constantly influx, as the happenstance of accidents favor one particular of the signs. In other words, it's certainly not an exact science.

Carol Allen, one of the most respected astrologers in the country and the astrologer of choice to Hollywood’s movers and shakers, explains that in astrology, the month of your birth may be less important than the position of the planets at a given time.

“In astrology, there is actually a planet that represents vehicles and a planet that represents accidents,” she says. “When the planet of vehicles is with the planet of accidents, no matter what the person’s sign -- they will have accidents!”

Word of the Day: Sui Generis

sui generis \soo-eye-JEN-ur-us; soo-ee-\, adjective:
Being the only example of its kind; constituting a class of its own; unique.

This weekend I went to an Air Force Holiday concert at DAR Constitution Hall. I think concerts like these hold more meaning when you're seeing them in the nation's capital. There's something about the uniform and the flags and the "pomp and circumstance" that is more thrilling with the proximity to the center of the free world.

We may have been the only young people (and by young I mean under 60) in attendance, as we realized while standing in line behind more than a few blue haired ladies. However, you cannot discount the children who were forced to attend by their well-meaning parents. They were all dressed up in their finest Christmas clothing. And oh so cute.

The reason for attending, aside from the culture and our very well-rounded taste in music, was to see my friend Brad perform in the Singing Sergeants. Brad was chosen in 2004 to sing the National Anthem at the Presidential Inauguration. So you can imagine how incredible a voice he has. They performed a very silly version of the 12 Day of Christmas that was worth all the minutes of my life I lost during the reading of Why the Christmas Tree isn't Perfect, an extremely long and boring children's story about "little limb" or "tiny tree" or whatever the stupid tree's name was.

And then on Saturday we had our very best ever small group social -- a Christmas party that attracted over 150 people between the hours of 6 and midnight. An amazing turnout!