Yay, it does work! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you were all able to be with loved ones in some way, even if you snacked on Slim Jims and diet soda. I'm spending the weekend in Maryland, with my aunt, uncle & cousins. This is the first time since I moved from Nebraska that I've been with more-or-less immediate family for Thanksgiving, with the notable exception of my Mom's visit to Seattle a couple of years ago, when I made Red Curry Tofu for us, despite the fact that she had caught a cold on the plane and hadn't much of an appetite. By contrast, last year I had to work so I dubbed it Homer Thanksgiving, and brought donuts and beer to the office, much to my office-mate's happy surprise. You think my next job will allow me to sit at my desk enjoying a perfect view of the sunset over the water whilst sipping a beer? I thought not. Pity.

Yesterday I helped make the comfort food--green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce--while my aunt made just about everything else in addition to the piles of food brought by the many guests. I thought Uncle was going to burn the house down when he somehow got a hole in the bottom of the turkey pan and drippings spilt all over the oven. Meanwhile after a couple glasses of wine I had trouble staying upright on the four-inch heels I borrowed from my cousin--who, by the way, I woozily concluded is exactly Madonna's size, though perhaps closer to the "Like a Prayer" era, before Ms. M got all bionic.

I was gratified to learn that one of the dinner guests, a distinguished high-powered Harvard-educated Washington lawyer whom nobody would accuse of being nerdy, is a Harry Potter fan. Take that, housemates-who-shun-Potter. Actually even I think the latest Pottermania is becoming a bit much. Honestly I don't really care if HP is a good or bad obsession for kids (though I must admit I prefer HP to Pokemon)--I just think the books are a kick.

I was fourth place out of four at Scrabble tonight, though it was fairly close. At the end I got all these high-point letters I couldn't use (such an injustice that "quav" and "kyd" aren't real words). To make myself feel better I finished the Washington Post crossword puzzle in about 20 minutes, but I'm suspicious that they put the easy ones late in the week. We played PIT last night, after all the guests had left and I won three times without even trying. Is that supposed to mean I'm better at the stock market than spelling? Perhaps they should use board games instead of career skills assessment tests in high school. I'd have a BA in Trivial Pursuit with a minor in Pente. The Shop kids would play Uno.

Testing to see if this will work from a remote location...

My stepdad reports, regarding haiku:

"Per Webster: an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines
containing (usually) 5, 7 , and 5 syllables respectively."

Ok, so I messed up the number of syllables per line, but I still kind of like my Potter/Star Wars laments below. Now I think I have seen all of the available "Episode II" trailers, albeit in the wee postage-stamp-sized form on the Quicktime website. I miss my DSL connection.

So, what do I think of the upcoming penultimate Star Wars movie? I think it will be better than "Episode I" in overall entertainment value, but of course we are all hoping for that. From what I can tell from the "Episode II" trailers, Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman have some decent chemistry as Anakin and Padme, so hopefully George will allow some real heat in this one (as opposed to the unsatisfying closed-mouth kissing scenes between Han and Leia in "Jedi"). Also it's clear that this will be a darker film, with the forbidden element of Anakin's and Padme's relationship sure to undercut any sweetness in the romance. Hayden's delivery of Anakin's "We could keep it a secret" line is a chilling hint to his willingness to break the rules--and gosh what red-blodded male heterosexual teenager wouldn't, given Padme's dominatrix-lite gown she wears in that scene--yowza! It seems that this film will follow more closely the "Empire" and "Jedi" models of splitting up the primary characters into separate journeys, and that may help keep the action zinging along. I like how they haven't made it clear yet who the "bad guy" is, unlike the "Phantom Menace" trailers which basically gave away all of Darth Maul's best moments. Only six months until the film opens, I hope the time goes fast (and while I'm hoping, let's hope that by then I'll have a job and a decent apartment, yes?)