I moved, along with two of my roommates, to a new place in early December. It was quite cold at the time.

Two days after the move, I went on my typical holiday trip. Two weeks in Indiana, where it was even colder and there was a ton of snow on the ground.

Then two weeks in Washington, which had just weathered the snowpocalypse, still had snow on the ground, and wavered between cold and rainy, cold and snowy, or just plain cold while I was there.

During all this, the weather had apparently warmed up considerably in San Francisco, and was sunny and bright. I'm sorry I missed that, although because I now live in Daly City and not the Richmond, I wouldn't have been in easy access of the park, even if I had been i the area.

Just after I got back, one roommate left for a week. Then second roommate left to join her the following Friday. My weekend while they were gone was rather boring and quiet.

And then I threw up.

Not entirely sure why. On Saturday, I made some fried rice. Had a bowl and was still hungry a bit later, so I had a second. Felt odd. Puttered around a bit, went to the bathroom and BLARGH, up it came. Felt perfectly fine afterwards. It wasn't even that unpleasant.

Weird, but I dunno what to make of it. I'm not even sick. (As I keep telling myself, I don't get sick, anymore, because I work out and am healthy... except I haven't been working out that much of late.)

Christmas was very nice, overall. I think that two weeks in Indiana is just about right. Long enough that I feel I can spend time with everyone there, but not so long that I get bored because I really don't know anyone besides my family.

It's interesting that both my mom and I went there with the same impression: we'd be able to do the family stuff AND be able to work. I clocked an amazing number of hours over the Christmas week, which was good. Tiring, though. I feel like I'm still recuperating, even a month later.

One interesting highlight was going to see Bolt with my dad, niece and nephew. They're both five and a half and like cartoons quite a bit. However, my nephew apparently does not like movie theaters at all. When I initially pitched the idea, he didn't want to see 'that movie', and even when we went, he wanted to stay in the car. He eventually spent the entire film on my dad's lap.

My niece was pleased as punch about the whole thing. She got a soda and cotton candy at the start, sat next to me enraptured for about the first third and then leaned over to me: "Uncle Jeff, I have to go to the bathroom."

Afterwards they did express how much they liked it, with my nephew asking if they could get it on DVD. (Perhaps in time for their birthday.)

BTW, cotton candy? Gross. Honestly do not know how I ever ate the stuff. No accounting for taste, I suppose.

Washington was nice, despite the weather. I do enjoy hanging out with all my peeps up there, and had considerable fun hitting various gaming nights.

Climbing with Chris was cool, as always, although I continue to feel like I'm not advancing because I don't get to do it regularly. (I suppose it's actually a bit easier to get to a climbing gym from Daly City, but a round trip on the BART plus the fee to climb means it's a $30 hit or so. Bit pricy for me, at the moment.)

I also went to a nicely sedate and enjoyable get together of Puzzle Pirates players, which was an afternoon of fun conversation. And I attended the USSM/LL meet-up thingy where we got to listen to a few hours of Mariners officials talking about how things are different. Nicely uplifting considering the last few years of the franchise.

Spent a few days with my brother at his newer place, which was cool. We made an awesome curry one night. And I introduced him and his wife to Calpico. I think we all like the aloe flavored one the best, which is ironic considering I'd been worried about it at first.

The only downside of going to Washington, besides the fact I don't get to spend enough time there for my taste, is that I always spend a ton of money on food. I've been trying to cut back now that I'm in the Bay Area again, but haven't quite succeeded. I went to a hockey game and sports venues are always expensive.

***

I'm not normally inclined to discuss the Christmas haul, because comparisons of the loot don't do a whole lot for me, and I hate to sound like I'm bragging.

However, theonlymegumegu shocked the hell out of me by getting me a DS, which is totally awesome. I've already gone through Professor Layton and am currently working on Hotel Dusk. I'll probably look up getting a kanji dictionary of some sort in the not too distant future.

My brother got me this awesome baseball jersey. As best I can tell, it's a genuine article (even used, as there's a few dirt stains) from a Japanese high school. I've never had a jersey before, so I lubs it.

I got an incredible number of sweatshirts and books, which is always great. I've turned my bed area of my room into a little reading cubby, so my stacks and stacks of reading material are close by.

And apparently my parents are getting me a TV, another shockingly awesome surprise. I've been a bit overwhelmed researching them, but I'm amused by the different character that each company has.

***

After I got back, I bought a number of games. Given how much my friends (both in Washington and down here) are into purchasing games, I've never really felt the need to do so. Anything I've wanted to play has generally been available.

However, I finally decided I needed my own copy of Race for the Galaxy. And I enjoyed my games of Dominion, Kingsburg, and Witch's Brew enough that I wanted those as well. So I got a big order together and for the first time, actually have a stack that I can consider my own. It's kinda cool. Especially Dominion.

***

Looking forward to the next year, I want to write more and play more board and card games. I really enjoyed the game nights in Washington, so I'd like to try and do something fairly regularly down here. Also, poker.

For writing, I think I'm going to try something Cory Doctorow suggested: just find 20 minutes each day to get a page or so out. Do that, and you'll have a novel in a year.

Also need to be blogging more regularly on goddos. I kinda fell apart during the vacation, so I've not gotten either the November or December recaps done, nor did I get a January preview.

Somewhat impromptu, but I'm making a trip up to Washington for July 4th and so I can get some damn summer weather to enjoy. (It's absolute ass here in SF.)

I'm flying up on the 1st and back on the 16th. Will need to hang out with everyone at least once.

And now it's bedtime.

The party last weekend went off quite well. Despite extending invitations to include eighteen people total, we ended up with nine, which worked out as a very comfortable number. A mental note for future years, but I should probably make sure to tell people about the party more than a week in advance. As I was telling people, it was a bit of an "Oh, shit, I knew I forgot something" moment.

The trip north on Monday went quite well. While I know (from repeated experience) that I can make the drive in one shot by myself, it's really nice to have a few other people in the car who can take over. This is especially true since I didn't get any sleep beforehand. I took the first leg (SF to I-5), then handed the keys over because I figure that anyone can get to Tacoma from there. Once we got up here Chris, Pete, and I spent evening decompressing with some food from The Ram and watching the Director's Cut of The Gamers... which is pretty much the same as the normal edition with nicer special effects and (I think) some improved lighting and sound. So nothing really new, but it was enjoyable to watch.

I slept most of Tuesday. I think when I finally got out of bed, I'd been there for about 12 hours and it was after 6pm. I found out josienutter was hosting some Karaoke thing up in Seattle which sounded like fun, but I also didn't really feel like moving just yet. Instead I took care of a few things, took a shower, and hung out with Pete and Chris again in the evening.

Wednesday through Friday has been dedicated to family stuff. My dad flew in from Indiana on Wednesday, then on Thursday we drove out to Ellensburg for a birthday party for my Grandmother which was done at a wonderful little wine tasting dinner. Given the propensity of March birthdays in our family, this also served as a party for me and my dad. The food was good (even if two of the courses involved pork, which I'm trying to stop eating, and one had walnuts as an ingredient, so I had to avoid it), and some of the wines were excellent.

This also was the first time I'd gotten to see my mom's new house. It's tiny, but it's incredibly convenient to the university. Of course because it's tiny, it's not really condusive for people visiting overnight. I crashed on a futon in the front room, but I think I only got around five hours of sleep.

The drive back to Tacoma was uneventful and went at a nice clip until I got to I-5 in Federal way, at which point it was slow. I stopped at Trader Joes and Safeway for the ingredients for the chili, came back to my grandparent's place, and then promptly crashed out on the couch for three hours.

Since then I've made the chili for tonight. I think I've got a good flavor balance to it.

Calendar:
3/31 - Game Day at Chris's place. Hence the chili.
4/1 - Possibly a Guest Relations meeting (not sure if I can make it), possibly climbing, possibly crashing up in Seattle at Deanna's place.
4/2 - Mariners Opening Day with Deanna.
4/3-5 - Nothing specific planned.
4/6-8 - Sakura-Con (Which I have only just found out is the same weekend as Norwescon, which is a first)
4/9-11 - Nothing specific planned
4/12 - Heading back to SF

Still need to figure out a good time to meet up with various Seattle peeps. Still open slots on the schedule, though, and some things can be moved about if needed.

In other news, I've been reading a lot of comics. Trying to make sure I get through all of Chris's stuff before I have to go back, but I think I don't have any cause for concern.

I should review a few things while they're still fresh in my mind. Perhaps tomorrow. Sleep now.

Made chili again today. Two, in fact. One had salmon. The other was my first attempt at a vegetarian (vegan, technically) chili, with tofu. I think they turned out all right, but I woke up a bit late and only cooked them for about two hours, so they feel a bit... off. They taste fine, but there's a back-of-the-throat tang that isn't quite baked in enough for my tastes. This is something I enjoy about making chili, though, because it's experimental and adventurous to try and figure out how to get the right flavor. I think I want to learn how to make gumbo, next... especially if I can do it like On the Bayou.

My holiday plans are coming together. Initially, I had planned to to visit my family in Indiana for about a week. Get there a few days before Christmas, leave sometime between then and New Years. Unfortunately, I delayed on getting my ticket, and when I finally had a chance to get one, prices had skyrocketed. Which may be for the best. I called my dad, and it seems that it'd be helpful if I can be there past the New Years to help watch the kids, houses, and dogs. So my travel plans are (right now) from Dec 14 - unknown, but the latter date is probably around Jan 8. Which is rather long. Not as long as last year, but this could be made to seem longer if (as is possible), my entire family in that area is gone for the first week of January. Kinda odd to go visit and then see them all leave.

I've taken some steps to (hopefully) make it a bit of a more hassle-free holidays, though. First and foremost... I've bought an iPod. With the help of a friend, I've got a discount on an 80 GB one, which should handle all the music I'll want to get for quite some time. It should arrive later this week (woo!) which has gotten me going through iTunes to clean up my music files. I'm also researching earphones to find a good pair to buy. I'm not enamoured with earbuds (causing hearing loss and whatnot), and my current pair, while nice, cause a bit of pain with they way they curve around my ears. I've been looking at canalphone types that stick deep in the ears and, in theory, don't require high volume to give a better sound than earbuds.

I've also been building up my Amazon Wish List. This is largely because of the rather wide disconnect I have with my family on the things that interest me. It's a bit difficult to say that I'd like Volumes 10-20 of the Case Closed Manga or whatnot. In large part, I'm mostly willing to say "clothes and household items", but this also allows me to identify some things I"d like to get. Although the list is currently an odd amalgamation of things I've not yet read/seen and things I have, but would like to fill out the collection. I'll probably revise it over the next few weeks.

For the curious, it's here.

Beyond that, I think there's three things that I'd like to get in the not too distant future. One is related to a thought that's been pinging in my head for a while. I've never been entirely happy with my "decision" to not keep playing a musical instrument. I took lessons for a number, but never kept at them. I kinda wish I'd at least kept playing the piano. While I know I can pick it up again (and probably will), another has been getting to me, too, so I'd like to get a cheap bass to pluck at and try to learn.

The second thing I'd like to get is a laptop. I think I travel around enough (at least two-three times a year), to make it worthwhile to have my own computer to use away from home. I'm eyeing a Macbook of some sort, but I doubt I'll be able to afford it until next year. Which is a shame, since I -am- going on a trip in two weeks.

Third, and perhaps a bit more desireable since I've left my car up north, is I'd like a scooter. Probably a moped class one (50cc or less). The anime fan in me likes the idea of a Vespa, but they're pricey as hell. I've been looking on craigslist for a used one, but the difference in price between a new one that meets my desires and what I've seen there isn't that wide.