The Return of Me

Worry not readers, I'm back.

Where did I go? Nowhere really.

I took last week off of work and coupled with some weird work holidays I ended up with 12 straight days off. It also turned into a unexpected vacation from blogging as well.

The time off was splendid as were the holidays (I'll post some holiday pictures later). I spent some time with family in Port Orchard, Olympia, and Lake Stevens. Although most of the time was spent in Seattle

It was particularly nice seeing my Nana at Christmas. It has been a few years since I've spent Christmas with her and she full of joy throughout. I even got her to make me a patented Nana-style Canadian and tap water cocktail which turned out to be not bad at all which is saying a lot from a vodka drinker. I also got to have Christmas dinner with Uncle John and Aunt Gail and my cousins. I really don't see them enough, especially now that they no longer east of the mountains.

My mom and Mike surprised me with a really cool xmas gift. A print of Public Enemy's Chuck D by guerilla graphic artist Shepard Fairey. At first I thought it was some baseball player like Curt Flood or Eric Davis but brother set me straight. At first I thought it was a little extravagant for me but now I really really like. You can see the print here. The print I have is of the right side. Maybe I'll get Flava Flav to complete the set next year.

Oddly I only caught two movies on my vacation The Aviator and The Life Aquatic I really liked both a lot. I expected to like The Aviator because even bad Scorcese is usually quality stuff. The Aviator is probably Scorcese's best film since Goodfellas, a really excellent film. With The Life Aquatic, I didn't know what to expect. I loved Rushmore but I was left cold by The Royal Tennenbaums, but I really enjoyed this new one. You just can't go wrong with David Bowie songs done in Portuguese and including the original versions of my two favorite Bowie songs "Life on Mars?" and "Queen Bitch" means I have to love it.

I also spent a lot of time playing geeky board games with Headstart and my old friend Nick. Headstart, newly employed in politics, had the week off and Nick was back from Africa for the holidays. We played lots and lots of Settlers of Catan and Illuminati. And this last Sunday we played more at our old high school friend Bill's place with my brother. We played History of the World which even though I won is only really fun for the first half then it tends to get a little stale but it was still a lot of fun.

I also had a wonderful time on New Year's with Headstart, Sprizee, AA, and Xan. We were at Frumhouse where Headstart was house sitting and good time was had by all. There was booze, Chinese food, and poker. My poker game was initially horrid but after I had couple of great hands at the end that took me from big loser status to big winner status.

By the last day of my vacation (Monday) I was ready to return to the working world. Rested, happy, and motivated to have a great 2005.