December 19th, 2004:

Jess and I are heading out to Keller today. From 1 until 6 or so, we’ll be making lots and lots of Tamales.

I like Tamales and, despite the work involved, they are fun to make. But, I don’t quite understand why we’re making a metric buttload of them in December. Regardless, I like spending time with my family, so it should be fun regardless.

At 6, when my brother finally gets there, we’ll be taking family pictures. These turn out terrible nearly every year. First of all, everyone in the house is in the picture, so we have to deal with a remote release and all that fun stuff. Secondly, there isn’t really a good place to pose *all* of us in front of. My mom’s house is large, but there really aren’t any rooms big enough to hold *all* of us and still have room to move things that clutter the image out of the way. None the less, it’ll be fun trying.

This year will be the first year we’ve had studio lights to attempt it with. Hopefully, that’ll make them at least marginally better than they have been in the past.

Mom wants us to dress “nice” so that she can get individual shots of the couples and families within our family, too. So, I guess I’ll be bringing my nicer clothes with me as opposed to wearing them there, as nice clothes, chili soaked beef, pounds and pounds of masa, and photographs is a receipe for me getting something on myself where it shouldn’t be.

Lisa, Mike, Jess and I went to Holiday in the Park yesterday at Six Flags. I’d never been before. We had a pretty good time, but it is a bit of a ripoff, really.

Most people (not us, thankfully) are paying full price to get in ($20 – $30, depending on if you have a Coke can or not, which is also quite a stupid situation). yet at least 1/3 of the rides are closed. No Batman the Ride, no Mr. Freeze. In fact, that whole section of the park is closed. No Flashback. No Texas Giant. No Cliffhanger (or whatever it’s called these days). None of the water rides (obviously).

To make it worse, on a regular day in the regular season, you could get there at 10am and stay until 10pm, enjoy 12 full hours of waiting in line. But Holiday in the Park is only open from 4pm to 10pm, cutting your time in half. Add to that the fact that of all the times I’ve ever gone to Six Flags yesterday was by *far* the busiest and it doesn’t really seem like you’re getting your money’s worth. I mean, we had a good time. And our tickets were only $10. But still, it seems a bit silly.