I Think it was All Just a Dream

Tomorrow morning I leave Florida and return to Peoria...

I'm taking bit of the pirate lifestyle with me. Look for some good things in '09. I have some good pictures too.

I've eaten more rare red meat, drank more alcohol, and spent more time lying in the sun than I have the collective of the entire year. It's been forever since I've felt this good.

Things to do upon my return:

1. Play with Sven.
2. Wash towels.
3. Buy a hookah.
4. Chill beer.
5. "Obtain" the Stone Roses' album from '93...I can't remember the song's name but it's something about "let me put you in the picture, let me show you what it means..."
6. Dust off guitar and give it another shot. I need a genre to learn, and not that surf music stuff either...
7. Pinch myself yet again.
8. Ring in the new year.
9. Sing a chanty and loot and plunder.... I purchased a "What Would Pirate Do?" decision making tool while in Key West - it's pretty awesome. Has a skull and cross bones spinner on it and everything. And yes, I did get a jolly roger flag that's going to hang in my office.

Farewell shorts and sandals...hello wool coat, if only for a few more months.

Brrr

It's a balmy 25 degrees here today with blowing snow and winds around 20+ mph...and today is the warmest one we've had in a while! I'm just hanging out for a bit before being picked up to be carted off to the airport. So, while killing some time, let's have some thoughts about Christmas.

Things I'm thankful for this Christmas... I will start with friends that are willing to come get me and take me to the airport on their day off work. I always feel better about being propelled through the air in an aluminum tube if I can spend some time before with good people. I also feel better about this knowing that said fellow (who is a fellow member in the any-beer-at-any-time club) will probably toss back a couple in the airport lounge with me while I wait to be frisked by security and send on my way.

I'm also thankful for a family that will fly me down to Florida to hang out with them on their holiday break. (As well as for being tolerant of having my plans literally change 3 times in a day, but that will happen when your company is contracting with the times.)

I am thankful for Sven, my new rat-companion. We're still getting to know each other, but he's turning out to be quite the cuddly little guy. There's a lot to be said to having someone looking forward to your arrival home from work.

Facebook has brought to me yet another apology from a high school mean girl. Yeah, those girls were mean, but oddly enough it's suited me well because even before the age of 20, I knew how to deal with maladjusts and bitches and this is a skill that serves me well on the factory floor. File a grievance against me? It's better than a note in my locker telling me to leave town. Being a favorite target of the mean girls, I've later learned, has come from not giving them much of a reaction. I was commended today in writing by one of them for "turning the other cheek" and "taking the high road." Of course, having a rather sweet and sour demeaner could mean that I was mooning them when they weren't looking or getting to a strategic high point to better dispatch with the boiling oil. So...I'm not really thankful for the apologies because that's just a minor footnote added to a minor lift chapter. But I am thankful for the inherent ability to roll with the punches.

Finally, I'm thankful that I still have a job. A lot of folks I work with will start being let go at the begining of the year and it looks like I'm here to stay. (Of course, if I go, that means that the company was probably sold to China or something...let's just things will be really bad if stuff like that starts happening - the cuts get that deep.) I'm thankful I have friends with good business sense with whom to discuss this whole...situation and bounce off ideas. I glad my parents have instilled (what I think is) a good work ethic and never giving up. All of you out there should never give up and I have a story to illustrate why - ask me and I'll tell you in person sometime.

So now I'm off to bundle up, gather some in-flight magazines and set forth on some warmth and adventure.

See you in '09 kids!

Involuntary Eye Movement

Sometimes I notice that when I'm having an unpleasant conversation or when I'm irritated about something and have to talk about it, I can feel my eyes vibrate. I'm not sure if it can be seen, but I sure feel it's there.