I finished reading Watchmen this weekend. It's a very intense book. Long and slow at some points but still the over all message and the insane ending make up for it. I'm looking forward to the movie... Hopefully Fox won't be complete douchebags and push back the release date and/or edit the living crap out of it.

This weekend was Ben's company Christmas party... yeah I know a little late for Christmas parties right? Oh well... Comcast is having theirs on January 31. Anyway the party was at Maggiano's Little Italy. A fancy Italian place on the north side of Indy and I must say, I was impressed by dinner.

We were given our own private room of course... but this room had its own private bar... and EVERYTHING was on the company. And lemme tell you, that bartender made a mean whiskey sour. I haven't had one that strong since that night at Aparativo in Florence.

So at each table was a little meal card listing the food for the night

Course 1
Fried Zucchini
Fried Mozzarella
House Salad
Ceasar Salad

Course 2
Fettuccine and Broccoli
Angel hair and Meat Marinara
Chicken Parmesan
Roast Beef Medallions

Course 3
Profiteroles with vanilla bean ice cream
Cheesecake

So we're all looking at the cards thinking the waiters came around and you chose 1 item from each course for your meal. Oh no no no Sir, they brought us EVERYTHING! Plates of Beef, bowls upon bowls of pasta and salad and a serving tray of profiteroles!

And it was good. Oh man it was good! I tried to pace myself and not over eat... I came out full but not uncomfortable. For gifts to the employees they gave out target gift cards in varying amounts... I won't go into the many reasons this was a shitty idea as a gift as opposed to an actual bonus... I will however share the main reason. You can't pay bills with Target gift cards. I think Ben was really quite perturbed by this.

Anyway after we left the restaurant we went to Target to see how we could spend our $160 in fake money. We decided to put it toward a Bluray player. They had a Phillips on sale for only $199 and I told Ben I could make up the difference. But before we bought it, just to be safe we asked the clerk if it came with the HDMI cable we needed. It didn't say either way on the box. "I don't see why it shouldn't" was her reply. So we bought it, as soon as the transaction was complete Ben requested the clerk to open the box to make sure. And guess what. NO HDMI CABLE! Another clerk said "Well yeah, of course it doesn't come with the cable. they want you to spend another $70 on that." Annoyed and highly disappointed we hauled our soon to be former Bluray over to guest services and got a prompt refund.

I know what you're thinking... Guys, why didn't you just keep the damn thing anyway and get the HDMI cable later? My reasoning is simple... If we couldn't use it right that instant, we didn't want it. It's shitty reasoning, I know... but who knows when we're gonna get the spare money to get and HDMI cable and we could put that card toward more practical purchases... A bluray would be nice but certainly not necessary.

I miss the weekend already... I miss falling asleep on Ben's lap watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, I miss talking about books and watching sci-fi together...

I hate it when our weekends are over.

I've found I'm not as big an anime fan as I used to be. I don't know if I'm growing out of it or if it's because anime is everywhere now. It is no longer the luxury to me that it was in years past.

I remember being the only person in my elementary and high school who even knew what anime was. I remember back when the manga section at borders was a single shelf that consisted mostly of Sailormoon and DBZ. I remember when finding the Anime section at Best Buy was the happiest day of my life... and purchasing my first subtitled Sailormoon Video (Sailormoon SuperS Movie) had to be the crowning achievement of my teenage years and the Sailor Mars doll that mom special ordered for me for Christmas when I was 17 still sits on my dresser. Her box had Japanese writing on it and she actually looked like Sailor Mars... not like the dolls I saw in Toys R Us. I was so excited. Nobody understood it but me and I liked it that way.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Anime has found a place in the US and is doing well. But going to Borders or Best Buy and browsing the anime/manga section no longer holds a thrill for me. I can buy dolls, T-shirts and other paraphernalia with little to no searching. There is truth in the old adage "The hunt is half the fun."

I think another reason I am not so into anime anymore is because I just don't have the dedication or time to sit down and get into a series. I've noticed the series I like...they all end. Typically in under 60 episodes. I don't have the patience, money or attention span to follow Bleach or Naruto or Inuyasha or any of the uber-series that are popular. I tried to get into Bleach but after 5 days worth of episodes and NOTHING HAPPENING I got bored and left. The Bleach anime reminds me of DBZ in that 75% of an episode is someone explaining the plot and/or powering up.

I'll tell ya what... If I'm a villain and Super Good Guy is just standing there powering up for an attack or going on and on about what drives him or why he's gonna beat me... I'd stab his ass and then have and early lunch. Naruto... I'm lookin your way too, kid. You just keep on talking about how you never had friends and now you have friends and they make you strong blah blah blah... I'm just gonna step behind you and snap your neck. No, no, keep talking. It's interesting... I SWEAR! Seriously, no wonder these series are like 500 episodes and still going! 450 are for powering up and grand speeches alone!

I just can't take that. I'll just stick with Cowboy Bebop.

Anyhow that's enough rambling from me tonight.

I should have been asleep hours ago... but Persepolis was on Starz and I became emotionally invested in it.