Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

It's that time of year, again.

My goal is to build a very nerdy Christmas tree, and that quest has led me to buy another Hallmark ornament:



"... Doctor, would an ape make a human doll, that talks?"

Between last year and now, a quarter of the colored lights on the brand new LED out door lights we bought last year went out. I'm sure that if I replace the burnt out light, it'll work again but there are no extras and even when I tried swapping from one string to another it didn't work. We're probably going to put up the tree this Thursday.

Our tree is up and lighted but has yet to get ornaments hung. Lights are up outside. And my wife filled our advent calendar with new Star Wars micro machines (yes, they brought then back!) so I've been having a blast opening the next door each day.

Something about this year is feeling a tad...off to me. I think it's just a general level of much higher stress which I've never felt before and has less to do with the actual HOLIDAY than everything else in life:
Starting a new job, which I've actually been at for a couple months, but still struggling to get myself caught up and 100% certified for all my training and security clearances and safety and etc etc etc
A toddler who generally is a bundle of happy energy but needs to start learning right from wrong, which leads to some challenging moments
An extremely challenging infant, who's probably no more challenging than an average kid, but my first one was an EASY baby. I feel like I'm CONSTANTLY covered in spit-up. I'm so sick of smelling sour milk, you have no idea...and my first kid barely ever spitup.
And this year, the whole family is coming to town from the 23rd through the 28th and my brother is staying even longer as he's moving to TX. I'm actually looking forward to when they get here, but preparing by needing to get a couple new pieces of furniture and really clean the house well and meal plan and try to think of things to do when everyone gets here is tough.

I'm hoping though that by the end of this week, I'll have all my shopping done (I'm all done except 3 people, one of which I know exactly what I'm getting and the other two I'm just trying to find the "right" thing), the house will be 100% decorated including a decorated tree (still need to do the lights as well), and hopefully I'll have my cards on order, and people will just have to deal with getting them late, because sweet boa of Samoa, I can only do so much.

Then I can enjoy next week and start sprinkling in some holiday favorites while I also get ready for Star Wars and then the week of X-mas itself I can just flat-out enjoy. It needs to happen because I'm feeling neither holly nor jolly and I'm not in the spirit at all right now..

^Unfortunately, growing up means coming to turns with the 'most wonderful time of the year' also being the most stressful time of the year.

How to turn that around? Do what I did today and get a Gizmo ornament:

Ha! My 3 year old daughter "bought" that for me yesterday while she was out shopping with Mrs Klen7

I used to love this time of year but now I dread it. Working in retail has really put me in a sour disposition in regards to the holidays. In fact as soon as it hits November my stress levels go up through the roof and I actually look forward to January where you get a slight break from holiday maddness and then it starts back up again around the beginning of March where you begin to prep for Easter which is getting to be just as bad as Christmas.

We had an early Christmas party with our friends because a few of them will be out of town tomorrow night and here is what my g/f and I got from them:

I feel a cold coming on. Gonna try to blast it out of my head this evening with every remedy I can muster.

Family finished all our little Christmas traditions. All that's left is the day.

I'll be spending Christmas in upstate New York with my family. We'll be leaving tomorrow after I get home from work.

Remaining hauls:



Not including gift cards.

Man, for a guy who supposedly stopped collecting toys a few years ago I sure got a lot this year: the entire first wave of Steven Universe Funko Pop figures, a Totoro plush (with an umbrella!), and this big guy:



For Blu-Rays I got Mad Max: Fury Road, Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures, Shadow of a Doubt, Speedy (Criterion's latest Harold Lloyd release), When Marnie Was There, Pom Poko (Hong Kong Blu-Ray, no dubtitles for me!), and I got these four beautiful babies:



^I was gonna get the box set version, but I dug the original poster cover art so much I decided to ask for the singles instead. I bought some two disc Blu-Ray cases so's I could put my DVDs of the films in the same cases, too!

For comics I got the Vol.3&4 box set of The Don Rosa Library of Uncle Scrooge & Donald Duck, Lone Wolf and Cub Omnibus vol. 4, Usagi Yojimbo: Senso, Through the Woods, and Corto Maltese: Beyond the Windy Isles. The only prose book I got was the non-ficture historical book Legends of the Samurai. I also got this super-cool volume:



... and I got some gift cards, a few shirts, a nice blanket (a plush throw of the same kind belonging to the gift-giver, which I had complemented months ago).

I also may have blew the bank buying Christmas gifts for other people this month, as well as a bunch of toys I bought for Toys For Tots. Well, maybe I don't eat out for the next month or so. Peanut butter and jelly for the next several weeks!

I got a bunch of cloths which I needed, I got some junk food which I'll probably give away because I'm trying to loose weight starting the first of the year and I got a $25 giftcard to gamestop which I used to purchase $25 of Xbox money. That'll go to import Rock Band 3 into Rock Band 4 and probably a few Rock Band 4 DLC tracks.

i got a smoker, which i got to open early (because Mrs Klen7 wanted smoked Turkey for Christmas dinner).. so that turned out delicious. Also got a couple accessories for the smoker and a few things off my wishlist

Haven't had Christmas yet. I left for work on the 21st and haven't made it home. Hopefully today...

^Hey, you got one of those little flashlights, too?!

Then I got some shirts, socks, underwear, gift cards, candy, and a subscription to this:

Nice polo type shirt
New hooded sweat jacket
Socks
Gift cards to Chili's ($30), Applebee's (not sure how much), and Buffalo Wild Wings ($25).
A really weird coloring book (has stuff like skulls & monsters)
Gel pens to color with (not really that great for coloring)
Small bag of candy (gummy bears)
Amazon gift cards worth $150.

Spent the $100 one on these:

Ghost in the Shell Arise Parts 1 & 2 (combo packs)
Tenchi Muyo OVA 1 & 2 (combo pack)
Yonggary Blu-Ray (pre-order)

Probably gonna spend the $50 on LEGO Marvels Avengers which comes out at the end of January.

Bought myself some anime via the Right Stuf sale:

Captain Tylor OVA
Ninja Nonsense
Grrl Power
Squid Girl season 1 (both parts)
Death Kappa (combo pack)