C. and B. are in the back room writing a new song. I can occasionally hear blurts of cheesy keyboards and a computer sample of a cow bell, a la "Hair Of The Dog" by Nazareth. Huh?? Those guys are the geekiest two people of the face of this earth. I love 'em.

Watched "Wonder Boys" on DVD last night. It was okay. It was one of those feel-good movies you hear about, which was kind of a nice change from the rake-you-over-the-coals feeling of "Dancer In The Dark". Plus, that Tobey Maguire is a real cutie. It almost feels scandalous to say that, because he looks so unbelievably young. The first time I saw him was in "The Ice Storm". That was directed by Ang Lee (who directed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), and if you haven't seen it, you should. "The Ice Storm" is great, great, great.

I guess I'm too old to have crushes on movie stars, but at least I'm not nearly as bad as my evil, evil aunt Candy (yes, her real name). She has a FRAMED picture of Kevin Costner on the living room table in my aunt & uncle's house. No pictures of my uncle or any other family member can be found, but there's this 8X10 framed picture of Kevin Costner in the living room. The family teases her, but she is eerily serious about it. I say she's evil because she really, truly is. She was so young and sweet and quiet when my uncle brought her over to our house the first time, and I fell asleep on her lap. I was fooled because I was a little kid, but soon she showed her true colors. She had my two cousins, and next thing you know she turned into some kind of barracuda! Once I remember she called out of the blue to yell at me for some tiny thing I did, like, a month before. She yelled at me on the phone for what seemed like forever, until I was crying. My mom was so mad. Then there's the fact that the only time we're ever invited over to their house is for gift-giving occasions like birthdays. But if we invite them over for the same types of occasions, they never come. Candy always makes a big deal about amassing material things, especially gifts, but only if they're for her or the cousins. She's always been a really petty person, never forgetting any bad thing anyone's ever done to her.

I've always been the type to just avoid confrontation, especially with family members. But this one incident still hurts when I think about it: When C. and I got engaged, I asked my dad for my great-grandmother's wedding ring. I figured there'd be no problem, since I'm the oldest grandchild and the only grandchild to actually know my great-grandma while she was alive. I asked my dad, my dad's sister, and my uncle if I could have it. My dad and my aunt had no problem with it, but of course Candy had to get in there and cause trouble--she insisted that her daughter should have the ring. She told my uncle that he had to stand up for his daughter and refuse my request. Since the only way I could have the ring was if all three siblings agreed, I was out of luck. All because of Candy's selfish ways.

Apparently, Candy, my uncle, and my cousins were "too busy" to come to the wedding too. I say, good riddance. I don't have the energy to deal with them anymore.

It's sad too because when I was really little and my uncle was young and single, he was my favorite person in the whole wide world. He used to come over to our house and hang out all the time and play with me. We would play with my toys and rough-house and stuff, and he was never too busy to spend time with me. When I fell and busted my chin and needed stiches when I was four, he drove my mom and me to the hospital. He would sometimes just come over and take me out to the park, just the two of us. I remember once he took me to this petting zoo where they had pony rides. It was great! I remember that so well. I loved playing with him and he could always make me laugh. He was the sweetest guy.

Sometimes when we see each other at family gatherings, I see him look at me with this kind of soft, sad face, and I know he's thinking about that time when we were close and how much fun we had.