This season of something

All seasonal cynicism aside, It really was nice to celebrate Christmas with the whole family.

Thanksgiving with friends in Minneapolis was fun, and my mother, of course, went to Paris for that holiday. But for Christmas my brothers and I all ended up in San Fransisco at 'home'. Home because my parents live there, but not home since I never have. Now, having left and returned home, home here is ever so much better.

My brother, Evan, brought his boyfriend home for the first time, and he was charming and awkward and in the end not frightened off by the by our family traditions. I think we are the only family I know to hold a masquerade party on the night of the 23rd. My father topped everyone else by going in a full suit of chain mail, knights helmet, and sword. (My other brother Thomas had to hide the sword halfway through the evening after a certain amount of wine had been consumed).

So now I am again home, with only a disgruntled cat at my feet.
She meows, but stalks off with her tail twitching every time I try to pet her.
Better than my friend Justin's cat at least. Annabel does NOT have the habit of using my bed as a litter box when she is displeased.

For fictional my nose is awfully cold

I really like Christmas lights. Some part of my subconscious nags me that they belong to that category of commercialized, shiny propaganda that you bought into as a kid but have now become disillusioned by. I think they probably do fall into that category but they are also pretty and that lends me to be illusioned a bit longer.

I put up a tiny tree in my apartment. Mainly Fiona decorated the tree and I strung lights in the window because she is a Perfectionist. The tree looks almost perfect except that there are no ornaments on the lower branches because Annabel, my cat, likes to eat them.

Speaking of eating, tonight we celebrated Hanukkah with our downstairs neighbor Sarah. We ate so much food an there was still so much leftover. There would have been a lot more leftover if Sarah's dog hadn't eaten a whole plate of latkes right off the table when she turned around. Then she proceeded to fart intermittently through the rest of the dinner. The dog that is, not Sarah.

Sound Symphony In the UW Fountain

I am afraid I haven't written in awhile. I went to Minneapolis for Thanksgiving and have been utterly consumed with work since I have been back. Not the fun kind of work either, the work to pay the bills type work.
I met a friend for lunch today in the U dist and I ended up walking through the UW campus. I don't spend much time there anymore and I forget how beautiful it really is. (on a sunny day of course).

The fountain was frozen over and an industrious student had broken large sheets of ice and collected them along the side. I watched him toss the fragments across the frozen pond where they shattered in bell like tones across the fountain. I really wished I had a recording device to capture the symphony of chimes and tinkles created by the breaking pieces of ice. A loud deep creak as the sheets were separated and then a cascade of lighter sounds. I wonder if he was paying attention to the sound or just exhilarating in the smashing.

This spectacular sequence was punctuated for me by a couple of students at the bus stop discussing the fact that the library computers had been tested and found to contain a strain of fecal bacteria. Being me I didn't want to butt in, but I felt a strong urge to tell them that I am pretty sure there are traces of fecal matter everywhere. It always comes back to feces in the end I guess.