books

In the mail this week, from a gift certificate given to me by BK and Kirky for my birthday:

The Penguin's Complete Shakespeare
Jane Austen: The Complete Novels
Eragon, that first-time novel from a 20-year-old that's outselling HP right now

From my sister:
The DaVinci Code

DVDs for Christmas and my birthday:
The West Wing, Season 1 (well, it's my father's, but it's the gift that gives to us all, really)
The Two Towers Extended Edition
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 4
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 5
The Lion King, the collector's edition
Finding Nemo

I simply have no idea where to start.

I take it back. My family and I have taken up the challenge of watching The West Wing's entire first season by the time the first week of 2004 is over. This is the family who has dinner all together approximately once every three weeks - I live home but work at hours opposing those who function in the normal world, my sister lives five minutes away but she might as well live in Canada sometimes, my father gets up at five and is asleep usually by 11 - we are sitting-in-one-place challenged. There is no motivator like the promise of watching The West Wing together. We run to get dinner done, put our tasks on an aligned schedule ("You take the dog out, I'll take out the garbage, you clear the table while you set the VCR and we'll all meet downstairs in five minutes! Go!") and generally act like idiots to steal that hour. This weekend they watched one without me and I was honestly angry about it - my father prefaced the next phone conversation with "Don't be mad!" and told me with a mournful tone in his voice, that they had watched one episode without me but I was working late and they were sorry, they just couldn't hold out. There was retribution - my mother and father fell asleep on the sofa last night so my sister and I watched one more while she dozed. Every man for himself now.