hooray for the holidays

So, 2007 went out with a bang, and 2008 came in with a lot of coughing and catching up on sleep.

where to begin . . .

Christmas Eve has been monopolized by my Mom's side of the family for more decades than I have been alive. As a kid there was this magic about it all. That was the rich side of the family so I could always count on getting some awesome ridiculously expensive present. . . . Now, it's mostly just awkward. We proceed through the same formulaic evening we've had since I can remember.

Christmas day I woke up and opened presents with my parents. I got a few new sweaters and a bunch of books, which I've already made significant progress on. God bless time off. I proceeded from there to the one Starbucks in Plano that was open Christmas day. I sat reading up on genetics, when one of the hottest girls I had ever seen (at least that day) walks in and sits at the table opposite mine. In the course of the next two hours I managed to read a grand total of 3 pages in whatever book I was working on at the moment. I was going through all the checks in my head:
1. Left hand - had a ring with no rocks on it . . . appeared to be a promise ring or some lower form of jewelry.
2. Yes, she's hot enough to venture getting shot down.
3. Pretty sure she's playing eye tag . . .

for 2 hours.
Anyway, a friend of mine walked in, and upon figuring out what was going on, offered a sufficient amount of peer pressure. I catch the girl outside and ask if she'd like to get coffee at the same table at any random point in the future. She proceeded to explain that the ring on her left had was indeed an engagement ring. I have a newfound respect for diamonds . . . something I never thought I'd say.
Christmas evening, recovering from the afternoons disappointment . . . we go out to get Chinese with my Dad's parents. Yes, it was reminiscent of A Christmas Story, only the kitchen staff didn't sing Deck the Halls, and I didn't get a bb gun for Christmas.
Then I met friends at the bar for a much needed drink.

Thursday. . . . Texas kicks the crap out of Arizona State! all is right with the world.

Friday I meet Joel Thelton. He's cute. Congrats to Kristin and Travis. Me and Jacob see my second extremely heavy movie in a couple days.

Saturday . . . oh Saturday. I kick everything off with my Dad's side of the family. Three rambunctious cousins crawl all over me for several hours. They're cute, but man that can tire you out. Then I move on to the bar, for a friends birthday party. A&M loses, and life is splendid. Then the decision is to go get our groove on at a bar down the street which tends to have a DJ playing. We go. A good time is had by all until about 1:30 in the morning, when it turns out that one of the girls has lost some keys. Cell phones out to illuminate the floor and booths . . nothing. 10 minutes later, it turns out the car is gone. All these years I've lived in Dallas and this is the first time I've been on the scene for a stolen car. We call the cops, who were immediately on their way. Meantime: credit card cancellations, dialing up hotlines, 10 people standing in the freezing cold after sweating for hours prior. Wet + cold= not so awesome. 30 minutes go by . . . cops on the way (play triumphant background music). Meantime: other friends call who (driving the same model car as was stolen) had been t-boned and flipped on their side just the other side of the highway. Friends leave to rescue. 45 more minutes to by, the cops are still on the way (dissonance in triumphant background music) . . . evidently there was a fight at a ritzy club that left a guy in the ICU, and this had taken precedence. I leave somewhere around this time. From what I hear the cops finally came . . . and saw that there was a report on the computer of a car matching the description having been wrecked just across the highway . . .

I don't remember much about Sunday aside from being tired.

Monday . . . NYE party, cordially titled "Eff you 2007, bring on 2008!!" I tried to sleep up all day.
let's start with the evening . . .
9:00 - food, lots of greetings.
10:00 - stylish people show up, looking like rock stars.
11:00 - I finally move away from the bar and start being social.
12:00 - lots of yelling, everyone kisses everyone
12:10 - dance party commences
12:15-2:30 - I'm kinda fuzzy on all the details, all I really remember is trying to dance with anyone who was female . . . I hear it was provocative. Also, there were community bottles of champagne contributing to the madness. There was lots of other drama, but I'll refrain from recounting any of it in order to protect the guilty.
next morning . . .
9:30 - I wake up on Luke and Kerri's couch, surprisingly not hung over.
10:00 - Back to the apt. for clean up.
12ish - Breakfast finally.
1530 hours - movie watching - sinking feeling that a sore throat is about to kick it into gear. . . .

all in all, it was a pretty amazing way to finish out december and kick off 2008 . . . i love you all, happy new year
(cough)