Welcome to 2006!

The thunderstorm earlier waffled around from thunderstorm to thundersnow and thunderslush, but somehow warmed up enough to keep the roads from being overly deadly, a turn of events I’m thankful for. We spent the evening at Mike and Steen’s with my sister and brother and Amber, where we played much Killer Bunnies (with all seven boosters!!) and laughed and had a great time.

The ride home was engulfed in a deep fog which would cause a less exhausted version of me would wax poetic. (The new year enshrouded in an almost comforting mystery appears too metaphoric to ignore; I can’t see what’s ahead, but at least I feel like I’m on the right road to get there.) The fog came from the ice that formed earlier, which had melted enough to give safe footing, and we were greeted at the door by a tiny dog with a cold nose who missed us very much.

I wish to you and yours the gifts of health and safety, peace, and prosperty. May we all walk into the fog knowing the way home.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and days of auld lang syne?
And days of auld lang syne, my dear, and days of auld lang syne
We’ll take a cup of kindness then, for auld lang syne.

Social circles and other tasks.

So yesterday (meaning Saturday) evening, we went out to dinner at Red Lobster with a friend from high school who I hadn’t seen in four or five years I think. I had an absolutely great time, ate too much, came home and wrote a little, then went to bed.

This morning, we got up relatively early (for us), so that we could go out to lunch with a friend from elementary school who I haven’t seen since June of 2004and her family. Once again I had a ball, and look forward to seeing them again in less than 17 months this time.

Around this, I talked to my folks a couple of times, and was invited out to eat twice by a friend who I see on a regular basis (she’s local). Also did some light shopping and watched the football game and spent five hours filing. (I was a little behind.)

My back is killing me, my sinuses are all screwed up (my fault), and I have eaten waaay too many things over the past two days that contain bell peppers, which apparently now that I’m almost 30, have decided they need to kill me. Despite all that and a tendency to overcaffeinate, I’m really, really happy right now.

I hope you are too.

Floor!

So I didn’t write today. I didn’t work out. I didn’t draw comics. I didn’t watch TV. I didn’t clean the house.

I, and two very close and wonderful friends, cut and hung crown moulding in my 2nd bedroom, then put down the laminate flooring.

We started out at around 11 and finished up about 10 hours later.

I ache everywhere. I feel like someone’s driven a railroad spike through the center of my back.

And we haven’t even done the T moulding or put the baseboard on. (Hell, I haven’t bought the baseboard.)

Tomorrow I think I’ll be catatonic. That sounds nice.

It goes by so fast…

Apologies for the radio silence, folks. It’s been a bit of a crazy week.

Wednesday evening I went out for celebratory “We did it!” drinks and snacks with a classmate. Had a good time but got home fairly late, and still had to work a bit on the comic for Saturday, which I can just about guarantee won’t be up on time.

Thursday night I went over to Mike & Steen’s to visit with them and Justin and Ginia. Justin and Ginia (who you might know from the forum as jzimbert and vjinton) were up visiting both friends and family all over Pennsylvania all this week – their first trip north from Georgia in five years. We had a great time, dinner and card games until late into the evening.

Today we took the day off from work to visit some more – took a trip out to Reading to a Dave & Busters-like arcade called The Works, where we also had a lot of fun, and some good food. But J&G need to be in Nashville by Saturday noon, so we couldn’t exactly make a weekend out of it.

And this evening, after returning from The Works, Nighthawk and I drove over to my parents with the pudge-dog, ate pie, checked out my sister’s schedule of classes for high school, and celebrated my brother’s birthday. We only arrived home here at about 11:00pm. (Did I mention the comic? It’ll be late.)

Lots of highs and lows – a rollercoaster’s the best way to describe the week. Everyone and everything is busy, busy, busy, and has been since I graduated. I feel like I’ve barely gotten my feet under me. I wouldn’t trade the time I spent with J&G for anything, because it’s been way too long, but it also felt way too short, and I miss them now more than I have for a long time. I can only imagine how their minds have been reeling from a one-week tour of the places and people and things that had once defined their lives. If the “up” of seeing them is tempered by the “down” of watching them leave for me, it can only be that much harder for them. Still, they’re doing well in Georgia, and I’m glad to see them happy and healthy and able to visit.

It doesn’t feel like 5 years since Ginia and I were roommates in college. It doesn’t feel like 13 years since I entered 11th grade. It all goes by so fast.

Weddings!

Saturday afternoon, Nighthawk and I dropped JessieDog off at our in-laws, then headed into the fine city of Reading for the wedding and reception of close friends Wayne and Pam at a mansion-turned-event-hall. It was gorgeous. The food was incredible. The happy couple are hands down the most romantic people I know. We had a great time, even in spite of a screw-up on my part making us so late that we missed the cermony. We ate and danced and sang and partied until well after two, and only got about four hours of sleep at the hotel before we returned for brunch. After helping everyone else pack up, we returned to the Gibsons to snag the puppy dog and then returned home.

I’m exhausted. Happy, certainly partied-out, but exhausted.

I spent some time working on stuff here this afternoon, and will be going to bed as soon as I’m done my dinner tonight. Tomorrow I need to work on my homework, as I’ve fallen behind – and this is not a good time to fall behind. Tomorrow evening is a picnic at Mike & Steen’s, then fireworks, then home. I suspect I’ll be sleeping in tomorrow ’cause I’m gonna need it.

I work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, then my vacation starts and I don’t work again until the 18th. I’m going to need most of it for homework I suspect, but the rest will be day trips into the city to see the sights. I’m looking forward to it.

Dress Accomplished.

I had a wonderful time dress shopping – it always works better if you take a good friend who has a great sense of humor, and my friend Steen has all of the above. Without her, the insanity of womens’ clothing sizes in the United States would’ve had me in tears after the first hour. With her, we slogged through probably 100 dresses in at least 5 stores, and I came out victorious. Why all the fuss, you ask? This weekend is a friend’s wedding, and it’s an evening wedding, which means formal, and it’ll be the first time I’ve had the opportunity to really dress up in years, and I want to look nice for a change.

Of course, having only slept from 5 to 10:30 and even then not well, plus the hours of coding this morning and the hours of romping the mall this afternoon have left me totally drained. If I make it through the week, it’ll be interesting, to say the least.