I'm quite a scrooge right now. At just after 7:30, we got back from my aunt's house for a Christmas dinner. It's rare that we get over there to visit, and even more rare that I get over there. The last time was either last Christmas or the Thanksgiving before the last one.

I really don't like visiting. My cousin's are a little weird due to their unusual upbringing. My aunt has her own idea of how my cousin (who is almost 16) should dress. She won't let him wear pants that are even a little bit baggy, and the same goes with shirts. Since he's about 6'4" and only about 130 pounds at the most, wearing these clothes make him look like Steve Urkel. He's already skinny, but his shirts and pants all look a size too small compared with most kids.

So I wasn't psyched to go over there, especially since it meant sitting in the back seat of the Wrangler again. Riding in that thing is like riding in a school bus. Plus, I'm as picky of an eater as you're ever going to find.

For dinner was mashed potatoes (which I like but only one type) cranberries (yuck!) and a whole lot of turkey (which is much drier than chicken) which was the only thing I ate because it was the only thing I could tolerate.

I didn't eat much either. Maybe six or seven strips no longer than four inches long. I had planned to go home and eat macaroni and cheese instead.

I really dislike eating at people's houses and will avoid it whenever possible. I really need that comfort zone. There's something about eating with someone else's utensils and drinking from someone else's cup that gets to me. Plus, I can't stand the scraping of forks, knives or spoons on anything other than paper plates.

I feel sorry for the woman who marries me. It may be hard to change my ways to reach a compromise.

I ended up having a fun time after all. We (my sister and my cousins Matthew, Rudy and Brighton) played pool on a miniature Fisher Price pool table. I started to get into it even with Matthew playing his Weird Al CD on random all the way through twice, with many songs coming up three and four times. He and my other cousins knew the words to every song including the eleven minute 1,812 word song, "Albuquerque". That's probably more words than I had to memorize for plays in high school. Plus, memorizing a song that long is easier than memorizing spoken words like the song is. I don't even think the lyrics for this song are printed in the booklet, so they had to listen to this song enough to memorize it.

Partially due to their sheltered life, I don�t even think any of them know what half of the things in the song are like hermaphrodites, sex changes or even Eddie Vedder.

I have to admit, I like the line, �Play me online? Well, you know that I'll beat you. If I ever meet you I'll control-alt-delete you!�

So yeah, they're geeks, but then again I'm not exempting myself from the group. Just because they sound like the Comic Book Guy or any other nerd from The Simpsons when they snap back by saying "loser!" at lines like "You're using a 286? Don't make me laugh" and "I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar" doesn't make them less cool. Besides, if gawky looking Matthew can get a girl, sings Weird Al tunes ad nauseum and has a voice like a fourteen year old trying to figure out how to use his post puberty voice, then there's hope for me.

No stores are open today. Thus, I can get no macaroni to make mac and chesse. My mom won't buy it for me either. It's not like I consume a gazillion calories a day. I buy all of my own fast food, I don't complain when she buys my sister a burger and not me, and you can feed me on less per week than the starving children in Somalia now that they're up to nearly a dollar a day. By the time I eat tomorrow, it'll be two days since my last meal. You'd think I were anorexic.

Tomorrow I plan on doing what I wanted to do and kind of did today. Bringing dad's new video camera up to the benches overlooking the city and filming a Christmas-like video. That is if I can sneak the camera out and find a tape to transfer this other stuff already on it to.

Jason

Previously on Apexsensatin : Now on Apex : Apex Archives : Next time on Apexsensatin