A while back, I wrote about how working life was becoming routine for me and predictable. I said that having a routine wasn't so bad after all, that it was actually comforting to feel like everything was in order and "been there, done that".
Well, comforting as it might be, I had a week off from work for Christmas and New Year's, and in this relatively short time, I quickly fell back into a life that was happily nonroutine. Waking up late, eating my first meal at 5 pm, laying on my bed and watching TV for hours at a time, and not working out. It didn't really help that my mom, sister, and girlfriend all left for Taiwan, leaving me by myself (or with my dad) for most of the time.
I definitely enjoyed the extra rest, the freedom, and the Newlyweds marathons on MTV while it lasted, but in many ways, I think I'm about ready to get back to the grind. Not so "ready", of course, that I would voluntarily choose to end my break and come back to work, but it's not as miserable being back here as I thought it would be. Definitely a different feeling than coming back from Winter or Spring Break back in the college or high school days.
You know that game Jenga, where you build up a tower of wooden blocks and then take turns removing blocks until the tower falls over? Well, I never really liked that game, cause I'd rather just leave the tower there after making it nice and pretty, but that game was kind of like what the past 12 days reminded me of. I spent a good deal of time and effort in the previous months to organize my life and get it to a situation where I felt like almost everything was in the right place. Then, when the holidays came, I started taking out blocks left and right (cause it was the "fun" thing to do for whatever reason), but all the while I had to be mindful of not completely messing everything up.
The good thing is, I didn't really mess up my life's tower too much during my break, but I think that's the direction I was headed. So even though it means I have to wake up early again and start grinding away towards the weekends like before, I guess it's for the better.
Nevertheless, I will say that the holidays were very fun and I hope everyone out there had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as I did. I've decided to record some highlights here:
- Washed my car with Dennis. I don't care if it's the dead of winter, as long as the sun is out, it's not too windy, and the temperature is above freezing, I'm taking every opportunity possible to give my baby a bath. Our experience was not without obstacles, however. The hose was packed with ice, so we had to spend a lot of time massaging it to break up the ice, then pouring hot water into and around the hose to speed up the melting process. It was a tedious and messy process, and Dennis wanted to give up, but I persisted and in the end we were rewarded with flowing water. The whole thing was pretty ridiculous, but probably an entertaining scene for anyone watching us. I even took a few pictures to remember the story, maybe I will post them sometime.
- Hung out with friends on New Years Eve. Played some Cranium and Pictionary, drank some champagne, and argued about whether or not the kid in About a Boy looked like Roi. The next day, I had one of the worst hangovers ever. I didn't even feel like I had that much at the time, but I guess wine and champagne give really bad hangovers, much more so than beer or regular liquor. Basically, it took me out of commission for most of January 1st, not a great way to start out 2004 but oh well. By the way, I didn't make any New Years resolutions, I think for the first time in my life. I decided that those are dumb and don't work for me, either that or I just forgot and didn't feel like thinking of anything.
- As I mentioned earlier, I watched a lot of Newlyweds. Me and Chras agreed that the show is just as funny, if not more funny in reruns as it was the first time around. Everyone rips on Jessica Simpson for being dumb, but I like her. At least she's not mean spirited or anything, and she tries to be a good wife. You could do a lot worse than that. Sure, she's whiny and spoiled, but she can also be a really nice and sweet girl. And you know what? I think there's a little bit of Jessica Simpson in every girl that I've ever met, and it's not entirely a bad thing.
- When I was little, one of my best friends was Jason, whose mom was friends with my mom. He moved away when we were still like 8 years old or so, but we kept in touch for the next few years by "snail mail". Jason's dad was in the Air Force, so their family moved a lot, but whether he was in North Carolina, New Orleans, Portland, or wherever, he would always send me a letter to tell me about what was going on. Somewhere along the way, I think around the time I moved to Taiwan, we eventually lost touch, but last week he sent me an email out of the blue. It turns out my old friend Jason is now a 3rd year med student in Virginia. I can't explain how weird a feeling it is, that one day we're just these kids playing Atari, having snowball fights, and making Chinese Stars, and then all of a sudden I'm working as an engineer and he's close to becoming a doctor. It was definitely cool to hear from him though, and exciting that I got to talk to an old friend on the phone. And I really hope that with the technological advances in email, IM, and cell phones, we won't lose touch this time.
- Went out to Lions Head Pub on the Day after Christmas. A good night, got to see most of my favorite people there. Took some pictures which I might post soon, if I remember to.
- Went out to Barleycorn on a Monday night with most of my favorite people who didn't have to work the next day. The place was so chill and empty that night, which was weird cause I've never seen it in any situation where it wasn't completely packed with people.
- Played a healthy share of cards. Our holdem games are getting huge, with enough people to make multiple tables and everything. I think I've been playing too much lately though. Wouldn't quite go as far as to say I'm "pokered out" just yet, but maybe I should try to keep things moderate. All right, so my rule shall be: NO MORE THAN 3 TIMES A WEEK WITH NO EXCEPTIONS... haha
- Played some Starcraft and realized that I still suck a lot.
- Watched the 1st season of Friends on my sister's DVD. This show was so good, especially in the early seasons. Not only was it funny, but I think they did a good job with the Ross and Rachel story. I actually kind of cared about what was gonna happen with their relationship, which is more than I can say for Chandler and Monica. That one just seemed so contrived to me. And then the Joey and Rachel thing was even more unneccessary. Anyways, I think I might have to buy the Friends DVDs for myself. The only bad thing is that the commentary and special features were pretty weak. It was hard for me to understand how such dry and lifeless people could actually be the creators of this entertaining and well written show.
- Drove through a lot of snow yesterday and was reminded of how rear wheel drive sucks in snow. Although, I think I might have to write an Ode to Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) sometime. That being the feature in my car that electronically stabilizes the vehicle when it starts to skid by cutting power to certain wheels and stuff, a feature that probably saved me from crashing more than a few times yesterday. What disturbed me most throughout the whole driving in snow experience was not that it was cold, or hard to maintain control, or that it was such a pain to clean off all the slush and ice. I was most freaked out when I saw a Honda Element driving by on the road, and caught myself almost wishing I had one. Well, then when I realized what thought had just crossed my mind, I threatened to kick my own ass, so hopefully that won't happen again. Those things are UG-LEE...
- Played football on Saturday. It was just touch, but I'm still sore today. I kind of wish we had played in the snow instead, that would've made for some fun tackling. Also watched a lot of the NFL playoffs. It sucks that I won't have my fantasy team to root for anymore, but I guess that means I can go back to being a regular fan and just watch the games for purely entertainment value. I kind of forgot what that feels like.
*****
The Frozen Hose
Pieces of ice that we broke out of the hose:
A gallon of hot water used to speed up the melting process:
Finally, the breakthrough:
*****
Lion's Head 12/28/03
