Take a breather, yeah? Thanksgiving weekend is over and we’re back to our somewhat regular schedule again. It’s not time for more holiday chaos yet, but we’re surrounded by decorations. This might be the best time of the season. No, I take that back. When college gets out for the semester and the town gets quiet; that’s the best time of the season. Yes, I’m a cranky old townie now, but trust me when I say that nothing beats having the shopping and dining options of a large town without the crowds.
I didn’t finish NaNoWriMo this year. Too many things were going on at the beginning of the month, so I didn’t get a solid start. Instead, I found my activities scattered between knitting, cooking, and sleeping. That’s one major problem I face this time of year. I wouldn’t call it seasonal affective disorder, because it has more to do with the size of my paychecks than the weather. I don’t qualify for holiday pay at my job, so when we close down for the holidays, I lose hours. If that happens during my part of the month to buy groceries for the house, I tend to spend large parts of my day in bed. If I’m sleeping, I’m not hungry, and the food will last longer. It’s a really unhealthy habit of mine, I know. It’s bad when it happens in November, because I’m nervous about having gas money to visit my mom for Thanksgiving. That’s money that we need for groceries. But then I remember that we’ll be bringing home several days worth of leftovers, so it makes up for the gas money.
Now that I’m through the worst of it, the rest of the season should be wonderful. I’ve got some plans for a Christmas party at my apartment. My mom wanted to take us all to the museum for the Peruvian Gold exhibit this month, but you have to schedule a time in advance, so it seems like it would be crowded. A few of us don’t handle crowds very well, can you tell? So instead of going out of town, I’m putting together a fun day at home. I know for sure two things we’ll try at the party. The first, Speech Jamming.
If you’re not familiar with this, you can check it out on Youtube. There is now a phone app for this, but I also found a website that works. If you want to give it a try, break out your headset (you’ll need a mic and noise-cancelling headphones) and visit stutterbox.co.uk. You’ll have to play around with the delay settings to find what’s right for you, but I tried at about .09 seconds and it was already pretty difficult to get through my story about how I spent my weekend.
The other thing I wanted to try was Flavor Tripping. Also something you can find on Youtube. There are berries with an enzyme that binds to the sour receptors on your tongue making sour foods taste sweet. The berries aren’t necessarily easy to come by, but luckily they are available in tablet form. You dissolve the tablet on your tongue and then try an assortment of foods with your friends to see what strange tastes emerge. I have just ordered some tablets which I expect to arrive by the end of the week and I’ve challenged my family to a flavor trip. We’ll get things like lemons, vinegar, pickles, anything sour or bitter. I’ve always wanted to have a flavor tripping party, so this year I’m going for it.
Check back throughout the month for more party ideas and reactions!