Very Superstitious

So it is Christmas weekend. And it doesn't feel like it to me in the slightest. Most likely because rather than sitting at my parents' house with my sisters, I am sitting in my apartment with a set of those dancing penguins from the Hallmark store. Sure they're cute, but it's just not the same. I was hoping that this weekend would be quiet. I was hoping that, if I had to be away from home, I could spend the time eating frozen cookies and enjoying a marathon of the following:

• "A Muppet Christmas Carol"- Greatest adaptation of the Dickens classic. EVER. The music, Gonzo, Rizzo, Michael Caine. You can't beat it. Seriously.
• "White Christmas"- Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. There's singing, there's dancing. And really that should be enough. Also, they wear pretty dresses and shoes. I would kill to be able to dance in 3 inch stilletos.
• "Love Actually"- Cause I'm a sappy romantic girl and from the moment Kiera Knightley gets married in her ugly feathered wedding sweater (I'm sorry, that whole phrase is redundant) to when the shy porn stand-ins find true love, I'm sold. Also, Hugh Grant is great in this movie, as is Bill Nighy. Woo British actors!
• "Jack Frost"- Yes. It's a movie where a Dad is reincarnated as a snowman. Shut up. It is a great movie, very Christmasy, I don't see many snowmen where I live, and after "Multiplicity", I have a very hard time believing that Michael Keaton can do anything wrong. (Although he totally can..."My Life" anybody? Good gravy that is the most depressing movie of all time.) Also, factoid: I have the soundtrack to this movie. Such is my love.

In order to prevent the absolute avalanche of work, I usually have a ritual. Basically, weekends that I'm on call mean that I am sitting on my couch, watching TV, and praying that my beeper doesn't go off. The prevention of beeping is a finely tuned art form. Some people just stay awake all night so they won't be awakened by their pager (these people are stupid because dude, if you don't get paged, you stayed up all night. Sucker.) Some people don't make plans to go out. Here is the rundown of my pager-prevention rituals.

1. Anytime asks me if anything's going on, I reply "Not yet." As if to let fate know, I'm ready. I don't care if you page me. Go ahead. Doesn't bother me. See, fate doesn't like that. It likes to catch you when you're all comfortable and steeped in flannel pajama goodness. Which leads to point 2.
2. I wear scrubs at all times. If I'm on Friday call, I am at the office in scrubs all day. When I walk in the door to my apartment, I usually change clothes. Not so on call days. I stay in these scrubs. And repeat to myself, "I'm probably leaving in a few minutes anyway." This weekend it means that I have been wearing the same outfit for approximately 25 hours. So far.
3. Also, don't climb in bed. That's the worst idea ever. I usually camp out on my couch. Blanket, pager, cell phone, laptop, and TV with captions on. Sure it's not that comfortable. Sure I think one side of my couch is starting to sag from the amount of time I spend parked on it/sleeping on it. But that's what it's there for, right?

So far this weekend, the rituals have not paid off. I think it was probably all for naught when Tom called me and said "You haven't had any pages? That's awesome!" Way to jinx it, buddy. :-p So, we've got two cases. My hair is sticking up in strange ways. And I could pass out at any second due to sleep deprivation. Welcome to my Christmas nightmare. :-p