2011 Summary | 01/26/12
It only took 26 days out of the new year to summarize what happened in the past year. That's pretty good, right? It was a pretty busy year:
January: Chris and Xan got married.
February: I part with almost all of my musical instruments to pay for the refinishing of the basement in Nashua.
March: Saw Big Sur along with a lot of coastal California.
April: Anika came to visit Ali from German.
May: I finish teaching at Lowell. Students reportedly overjoyed.
June: Steve and I visit the UK.
July: Hanging out with Pete and Dawn.
August: Start saying good-byes to New England and associated friends.
September: Learn there are coyotes in Calabasas when Chompy gets in a face-licking contest with one that came up over the back fence.
October: Go to the Grand Canyon via Helicopter from Las Vegas for my 32nd birthday.
November: My parents come out to visit me and we go to the Channel Islands National Park.
December: I got Chompy for Christmas (again).
May 2012 be even better.
New Zealand Painting | 12/20/11
It seems likes just yesterday I started my last painting but it turns out yesterday was January of 2010 (it's the same way I feel when I think, "I just updated my blog yesterday"). Yes, it took two years to complete but it looks fantastic and I'm looking forward to having it framed and hanging it as the first thing you see when you walk into the Calabasas estate. Below is a poorly-done animated gif of its progress over the past two years.
That is the saddest thing ever | 11/30/11
I think the hardest transition in and out of academia is losing your sense of time off for Christmas. For the first 24 years of my life, all things stopped the week before Christmas and didn't get rolling again until the end of January. I feel like academics feel like they're owed this time off and it's hard to be around this sense of adult entitlement. I'm not talking about Steve or Ali but all the D and F list friends on Facebook that do nothing but complain about no one gets how hard they're working and how they NEED that break. Get real jobs or stop complaining you hippies!
Last night I had a video game night with Steve and we played the old standby of Empire Earth 2. I wish I could get into modern games but I think the grim reality of things is that I just am drawn to pixel-y looking stuff since that's what I had when I was a kid.
Everyone there was there | 11/09/11
This week my folks are in town for their first visit to Calabasas. Last week, Ali's parents were here so thrown in the flu and let's just say it hasn't been the most productive period of my life. I'm pleased to report that Tim has a new, vitriolic political blog here. He's truly an interesting writer so this is only a semi-plug.
The Nashua house is about to close which will sever my official ties with New Hampshire and I'll have to break down and get Nevada plates for my car and transfer my health insurance over to whatever Ho's N' Mo program Las Vegas has to offer. The home inspection was the morning and they found termites so maybe I shouldn't start counting my Nevadaness just yet. I can't believe termites could live in 10 months of winter and two months of near-winter so good for them.
Winter is Coming | 10/27/11
It seems likes just yesterday I had to experience winter and with most people I know either waiting--or already having had--snow, all I can say is Suckers! Even my Gmail account, with is still associated with NH, is showing the background of snow. If it's any consolation, it's beautiful in Calabazikstan.
