We shall not cease from exploration.

I can't even begin to say how wonderful it has been to NOT have to work any holidays after doing so for so many, many years. Yes, I experienced major holiday preparation fail because I didn't take any time off and I am (still!) unaccustomed to working the 5 day work week and continue to experience ongoing time management fail.

What can I say? I worked the 12 hour shifts for 14 years. I was just so used to scheduling and doing things on my off days. It might take a bit more time on my part to get it together. 

But, Brandon got the tree up and the lights on and I decorated it and it all worked out in the end. The lights had been in storage for two years and who knows how old they were before that and they WORKED until the day after Christmas when one strand went out.

It was so late going up that it would seem weird taking the tree down now, even if it is half lit. Plus, I would much rather spend an entire night and day reading.

And that is another lovely thing about extra days off. Extensive bouts of Guilt-Free reading! Hooray! (except that I think my astigmatism has gotten worse and everything's all blurry after a prolonged bout of reading)

So, the news of the Ender movie lead me to re-read Ender's Game. In one day. (Hence my visual problems) And I think I was left with a greater feeling of restless melancholy after this second reading than with the first. (Granted, I read it the first time when I spent several days hanging out at Vanderbilt Medical Center when Brianna had her open heart surgery so I was distracted by other things at the time). I had forgotten that Ender and the children at the Battle School were so young!  Asa Butterfield is actually too old for the part, even if I can see him as Ender. Then again, with some of the things that occur within the novel, it might be a better idea to increase the ages for the film. I mean, when I am reading, I don't actually "see" very young children, even though we are told their ages. If they had actually cast 6-12 year olds and we actually saw that on screen, I think it would be jarring or, worse, render the viewer unable to suspend disbelief. Anyway, though I am trying not to read too much about the movie (in an effort to avoid reading anything about Orson Scott Card, who, from what I gather, is very opinionated about lots of things and that just might hinder my enjoyment of the whole Ender series), I did see where Harrison Ford has signed on to play Colonel Graff!

Now, I don't know what to read next. I did receive several e-books for Christmas, one of which is Watership Down from de23, who, along with a few other folks, is pretty determined that I get past my "thing" with talking animals and finally read this book. Or, I could succumb to my fanfiction addiction.......