Holiday wrapup

[torquill]

It's been a busy week.

Christmas was quiet, as usual; I spent the days leading up to it baking a lot, and being frustrated that I wasn't getting more done. I've been tired, though, and I have to accept that I'm recovering from last quarter. At least the day itself went well. I got many gifts from several people, useful ones -- lots of baking tools and bread books I'll use regularly, a couple of movies, warm gloves... and a jewelry box, which was completely unexpected. I needed that, as it finally let me organize the piles of necklaces and earrings I've collected over the years. It's beautiful.

I also received a package from mikz, which proved to be a sonic screwdriver. (It's a pen, and comes with UV ink and erasable "psychic" paper. cute.) That was a very good surprise. Not least because I hadn't expected anything from that direction, and it's always lovely to know someone thought of you.

The intervening week went quickly; I cleaned up and unpacked my room finally, and it looks wonderful, even though I haven't hung any posters yet. I watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special with knaveofhearts; it was better than last year, very enjoyable. I went to San Jose with eastbaygreg on Friday, had a lovely evening but crashed kind of early, spent Saturday down there too but came back in the early evening. I just wasn't up for the second night of the party. I had intended to bake bread, but "Good Night and Good Luck" was due back at the video store at 10, so my mom and I watched that after dinner before I took it back.

Sunday I did bake bread, then I went to Decemberween at amanda_nye's new place. Good food, a host of old friends, new cool people, knitting (I managed to get back on track with the double-knit hat I'm having to alter, finally), and a chance to play with Portal. foogod made lots and lots of sushi, which got rave reviews. All in all, a successful night.

Yesterday I baked some more: hedgehogs! They were on the cover of one of my new bread books, and I wanted to try them at a time when there would be other people to eat the rest of the 16 rolls the recipe makes. They came out beautifully, as you can see... I packed up some other stuff, hit Trader Joe's for cheese to spread on the rolls, and drove up to Citrus Heights, above Sacramento. childe_dirk and M put on a fabulous party, as always -- lots of people, about half of whom were pretty good friends or firm acquaintances of mine, tons of food (including a wheat-free tray, on which I placed three hedgehogs and replenished them regularly), alcohol but very little drunkenness, lots of conversation, and good volume control on the video games (after being blasted with bad karaokeGuitar Hero at Amanda's place, it was a relief to hear it just as unobtrusive background music as we chatted). When midnight came, we all counted it down, and toasted each other before exchanging kisses. I got thoroughly snogged by firestrike in the middle of an anecdote, and supersniffles steadied my plate and waited patiently for the minute or so it took to get my brain back on track again.

I left around 12:45, after handing off a bunch of stuff (including Magic cards) to doktor_weasel. It was a quiet drive home, despite a little fog, with only one car that looked like its driver wasn't totally cold sober... very few people out at that hour. I exited the freeway right at 2am, which was my goal, and got back home around 2:15. I chatted with eastbaygreg a little, as he contemplated the monumental task of cleaning up after the party he was at, then I signed off and went to bed. I'll see him this afternoon, after three nights apart; we've both been feeling the extended separation. He'll have duck and champagne with us tonight.

The end of the year came very quickly for me, and I haven't had much of a chance to collect myself and figure out where I'm at. I'll do some of that today. Happy New Year, all; may it be better than last year.

Comments

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

You did find the magic cards, then?

[luna-torquill.livejournal.com]

Yes, they were here with the rest of the stuff he hadn't picked up yet.