(no subject)
I know that it's been over a month when I haven't updated when not only Lauren nudges me, but Janice does, too.
So here's a recap.
Festivus was fun times. Even though the gift swap wasn't so much fun. But the Heath and Drew reunion tour was all worth it.
Christmas=fun family times, except that Chas (my brother) was an a**hole for most of the time. Here's a probably not very interesting story about it. Christmas Eve, we go to my aunt's for dinner. We all ride together. On the way there, I'm looking at Television Without Pity on my BlackBerry reading about Friday Night Lights (obsessed, I know). So he asks what I'm doing, and I tell him. Then he's all, "But didn't you watch it?" And I'm all, "Yeah." And he's all, "Well then why are you reading it?" And I'm all, "'Cause I want to. Why do you play World of Warcraft." And he's all, "It's not the same. You already saw it. Why are you reading about it?" "Because I want to!" Mom and Dad had to tell us to stop talking/speaking loudly at each other. Then, we went to 10 PM church. We got back to the Residence around 11.30 or so. What do most people do on Christmas Eve at 11.30? Some might open a present or two, others might go to bed. Chas, he decides to go to his friends house. Because he couldn't go over as early as he wanted because we were at my aunt's and at church. Mom, Dad and I ended up opening our presents that night. We were up until 12.30 or so. I didn't fall asleep until 1 at least. He still wasn't home. It might not sound very a**hole-y, but there's more. And he was. And that turned out much longer than I expected it to. I applaud you for making it through all this.
New Year's in New York was great. Well, it started out great, but then ended really not great. But the beginning and middle were great. A broker from work arranged to have a car pick me up. I had a guy waiting on me with a sign! It was so cool! I felt important. I met up with the broker later for dinner. We went to a really cool tapas restaurant in the Lower East Side. They had delicious edemame, French onion soup dumplings, and mini Kobe beef burgers. The next day, everyone got into town. Franklin (who's supposed to be updating more often), Lydia and I went to Central Park. We rode the carousel, and acted like kids. I should go ahead and mention here that Franklin was feeling sickly when he got into town. It'll be important later. Went to see Spelling Bee on Saturday. It was cute, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as other folks. But that's ok. Sunday, I went to John Street United Methodist for church. It's America's oldest Methodist congregation. John Wesley went there. It was a really good service. Jesse Jackson was speaking at the Wednesday noon service. Too bad I couldn't go then. New Year's Eve was a blast. Ben had a party at his place. We went on the roof for midnight to see the fireworks. I only got close to the edge when I was lying on my stomach. And there wasn't any snow, so safer than last year. Monday, Ben and I saw everyone off, and then we went to Kirsten and co's apartment. We ended up staying there all afternoon and evening. We ate, played games, watched movies. Nice friend time. So, got back to Ben's, went to bed. Woke up around 4 in the morning. Went to the bathroom, and continued to do so on a regular basis for the rest of Tuesday. I think I got what Franklin had. I was supposed to go to the Stock Exchange, but Gerald Ford had died, so it was closed. Which turned out to be good since I would have been having to go to the bathroom all the time. I know your life is richer for having read that paragraph.
Went skiing with the youth group from church last weekend to Boone, NC. I had only been skiing in Gatlinburg before, which doesn't really count. And it was the first year the CoYM did the Gatlinburg retreat. I mean, Blake and Mandy were still dating if that tells you how long ago it was. So, needless to say, I was at a level 1. But by the end of our second day, I was holding my own with more experienced skiers. I went to the top of the mountain quite often. None of the black trails were open, but I was doing pretty good on the blues. I was proud of myself. We were there as part of a conference. It was pretty good. The band (Chris Orr, maybe) wasn't too bad. They did several hymns which I thoroughly enjoyed. The speaker was good. I didn't feel the need to get up and go study, so that's positive.
Speaking of studying, I've begun the process of getting my Chartered Financial Analyst designation for work. It's a 3-test process. Over 3 years. And a lot of studying. So my springs will be taken over by studying. No more trips for Memorial Day. I'll be studying. The tests are 6 hours long. About 240 questions. That's a question every minute and a half. So that'll be fun.
Why can't I stop watching the train wreck of the Real World and the Real World/Road Rules Challenge? And how much am I ready for new episodes of Friday Night Lights? And Veronica Mars? And how good was the first four hours of 24? You can already get the season 6 premier on DVD. If you missed it Sunday and Monday, go ahead and get it so you can be ready for next Monday. I should really be using all this time I spend watching tv studying. It'll happen. Just slowly.
One last thing. Dave Matthews Band released a greatest hits cd. And it's awesome. I'm totally a greatest hits cd kind of guy. So this one completely meets my needs for Dave.
Ok. Got to study a little bit and then head to Ruah. I'm excited!