Thanksgiving

I was surfing the net at home, thinking about getting started cleaning before my brother Tay arrived in a few hours, when my phone buzzed: "I am 30 minutes away".

I leapt from my chair and turned into a frenzy of cleaning, whirlwinding everything in sight to less visible homes, frantically scrubbing down the bathroom and trying to clean all the hair off the toilet.

We went to studio for a few hours that day after Tay got in and went out for Pho at the place on Olive with the canned music. Afterwards, we went out for some beers at Chestnut Urban brewery, and finished the night at Beale on Broadway, where we got seats at the front just as Kim Massie was about to get started. It was a really good set. She killed it with an amazing rendition of "At Last" although her version of "Come Together" was also really interesting. She nodded to us after the song and made some comment about familiarity with the Beatles. "Somebody raised you right." Damn straight, although I feel really bad for the people who aren't familiar with the Beatles. As usual, we were the youngest faces in the crowd. It's kind of depressing to think that this is the end of jazz and blues. Maybe everyone in my generation is just waiting until they get older and their musical tastes change. Or its a particular scene which is so gray that they're just avoiding it.

Wednesday, we worked a half day, and then Tay and I hit the mall for some browsing pre-black friday. We were both in agreement that there was really nothing we would want, even at half-off. We then went out to search for a theater showing Lincoln. This movie, which was released to critical acclaim, and, more importantly, is sitting at number three in the box office, was unavailable in the city or any of the inner-ring suburbs. We had to drive out to Plaza Frontenac which is in the heart of the richest community in St. Louis. A classmate described it as "Disgusting". It's actually so bad, we were laughing about it the entire time. All the stores in the area are made up with white picket fences, bell towers, plantation shutters. It's like someone was attempting to theme the neighborhood as a massive plantation.

Lincoln was really good. Amazingly compelling for a two-and-a-half hour picture about the attempt to pass some legislation in Congress.

Thursday we got up late and cooked and messed around for the early part of the day. I made ham, Tay made his famous mashed potatoes, and Saori whipped up some flan with vanilla sauce. We went over to Lauren and Sarah Kott's house, along with twenty classmates or so. When we arrived, the guys were all parked in front of the TV, while the girls were buzzing around the kitchen. The spread was fantastic. Every thanksgiving dish you can imagine or desire. We ate, we drank, we talked, we watched football.

Around ten, we left and took Vivian with us to see Life of Pi. Good movie. Absolutely beautiful. Not as good as the book, and if you want my opinion, still a little heavy handed. But still, an excellent adaptation of an incredibly difficult movie to adapt. It was nearly impossible to tell the CG tiger from the real animal.

Friday, we got up early and went to Wal-Mart. To heckle the people who waited in line.

No we didn't. We slept in and had a really slow, sleepy day. We went into studio for a few hours and then Tay bought us a BBQ dinner from Pappy's so we got to feast again at home. We were falling into a meat coma, so we watched some SouthPark, and then we left Tay to nap while we worked a few hours more in studio. I threw in the towel early and came back to pick up Tay and we went out again to see Skyfall. It was my second time to see it, and while its very watchable, I could have skipped all the scenes at the house.

Today, we got up late again, and Saori took us out to brunch at Winslow's home. Tay packed up, and hit the road, and we went back to studio. It was great to see him, but it's really a shame we're so busy with school. I think he had a contingency of staying an extra day, but wasn't really looking forward to spending it working in the studio. I'm really happy that he came out and I'm lucky to have a brother like him.

And so, back to studio.