I spent all of yesterday hanging out with my mom. We tried to go see the El Greco to Picasso exhibit at DAM but it was all sold out till Wednesday. I may try and go see it on Friday. So instead we went to go see Lost In Translation. I fucking loved this movie. I’m not sure how but it got into me. I drank it up. It was done so well. Scarlett Johansson was heart-wrenchingly real and Bill Murray hasn’t done anything this good since Groundhog Day (though Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums were both good). The music (Air, Squarepusher) fit the movie amazingly. The whole storyline was so sincere and earnest. There were times I sat in my seat and begged for the movie to end because I didn’t want what I had already seen to get ruined by a crappy ending. But I wasn’t disappointed. Anyway, I rarely get excited about movies but this one did a number on me, with style.

Afterward we went to go get some dinner. I voted for Tommy?s but it was closed so we went to a new place called Mezcal. It has only been open for about twelve days now but they have things running pretty smoothly. The food is nuevo mexicana (I just made that up, I?m not sure what it means) but is not too upscale with most plates being under $10.00. The atmosphere was pretty cool too. Despite having over 100 different types of tequilas, they only served Mexican beer and none of it was on tap, which could be a drawback for me. It?s nice to have an alternative meeting place before heading over to the Bluebird though.

I started out my xmas holiday on Tuesday night with a trip to the local haunt. It was both satisfying and disappointing as usual. Do you feel like you are getting to know me yet?

Wednesday I took the day off work. I slept in and listened to the bells ring in from the church next door. I wrapped presents and took care of a few errands and then headed over to my dads to spend christmas eve (day). They had a bunch of friends over, most of whom I didn’t know that well. My soon to be stepsister was there with her husband. I kind of knew her cause I went to high school with her. Also and old friend from new york showed up. I ate tons of cocktail shrimp and had a generally mellow evening and watched my brother and Pandy get drunk and try to hide it. My brother was the only one brave enough to try and rock the boat a little by talking politics and blaming all the problems in the middle east on the old people in the room selling weapons to Iraq in the early eighties. Everyone was so new to each other that things were exceptionally civil for a family holiday.

On Christmas morning we exchanged gifts with my father and had breakfast. The exchanging of gifts remains to this day the most enjoyable holiday tradition in my opinion. Tragically, a large apartment complex a block from my dads new house burnt down while we played poker. I won a dollar. Then we went over to my mom’s for Christmas dinner and to exchange gifts. I spent the day playing records on my new player my mom gave me. I decided to stay the night at my mom’s and drink lots of beer and smoke lots of cigarettes and bask in the warm glow provided the twinkly tree light nostalgia of Christmas spent in my childhood home. My mom and me stayed up till 3 in the morning talking about friends and mistakes and love and lessons and life.

It was a wonderful Christmas. Somehow I’m always surprised and thrilled by the great family I have.

Comments I’ve left on others peoples blogs today:

happy holidays to you to jezebel.
oarah, that sounded like something from a fortune cookie.

were both lucky that it’s sometimes easier for others to fall in love with our face than it actually is for ourselves.

i enjoy recieving hand jobs, i also enjoy the 69 position because it’s not always about instantaniously coming, sometimes they just feel nice. however, for pure, automatic, rock your socks off enjoyment, you’re right these are overated, so is doing it in the shower (or pool).

well if you worked behind a cash registar all your life, having kids may be the only thing you got going for you. sometimes it’s hard to take off your own shoes.

could you tell your mom you have an appointment with the girly-doctor. that would be only half lying.
when you need pills, you need pills, and you have to ask someone. but distancing yourself from your current crowd is something that will need to be done at some point if you plan on quitting.

the more common order is wedding, hotel, baby. but i suppose you’d just tell me you’re not common.

ok lux, got it posted on my sight in the annex. enjoy. consider my payment re-introducing me to this wonderful song.

your right chevy the 1st three lines are great. then it all goes to dookie.

i assumed he “went for it”. i didn’t assume it was true. i’ll finish a story in my head but i don’t believe everything i read.

i was wondering the same thing myself scott. chevy where are you?

“having had intercourse style sex” made me laugh.
also nick & jessica were given a hummer to drive around in that day by some studio or something so it wasn’t just a flat out proposition, there was some innuendo. it’s no secret that catholics are some of the most perverted people out there.

Hello there my dear, lovely, sweet, babies. So it seems the holiday festivities are in full swing. On Thursday I went out to the uptown expecting to grab a seat at the bar and have bite to eat but the place was incredibly crowded and all the seats were taken up. While there I ran into this guy from work. We got to chatting and he bought me a few beers and introduced me to a few of his friends. A few beers turned turned into a few more and since he was buying I couldn’t resist. Unfortunatly this was all done on an empty stomach. We all got really drunk and ended up throwing whatever we could get our hands on up, over and onto the bar. It’s too bad because now I don’t have my scarf any more. We all had a good time though. Needless to say I was really late to work on friday. The other guy didn’t show up till noon.

Last night I took my brother and Pandy out for dinner and drinks. We went to the local huant for dinner and got into a lively debate concerning racism which has been a common argument for us over the last year. None of us are deliberately racist and we all hate and biggotry. The argument usually focuses around the definition of these terms. Afterward we went to the January replacement bar and shot some pool. After my brother and Pandy left I went to the hippy bar. I stayed there till some drunk girl sat on my beam&coke. But really that was probably for the best.

I spent most of today sleeping and went over to my moms to help her set up the christmas tree and will later head over to the Lebers for their holiday party. So yeah, it seems the seanson is in full swing. I don’t know why I’m just now realizing this, given the Christmas is 5 days away.

I guess it’s only been a few days since I’ve written but it seems like forever. I’ve been swamped at work but my deadline just passed 20 minutes ago. I pretty much got everything done on time. On Tuesday I took a three-hour beer lunch with Sabrina. Her birthday was on Monday. She’s been skipping work all week and called once more today to see if we could do it again. Unfortunately, I had already eaten a couple of bowls of chili somebody brought into my office and had a deadline looming at the end of the day. It was good to see her again though. It had been a few months and I think we both forgot how similar we are and how well we get along. I disclosed some of what’s been happing with me lately although I must admit it recently hasn’t been much. After lunch Jami called and I spent an hour of work just chattin it up with her. It seemed like a long time since I’ve talked to Jami too so it was a nice afternoon. Unfortunately all my gabbing meant I stayed at the office till about 9:00 PM.

Last night I went over to my dad’s new house, which he just recently bought with his fiancé, with my brother and Pandy. The new place is huge. And nice in a very suburban sort of way. Definitely not my style, but fits him to a tee. It’s also kinda far away. Well, it’s farther away than his old house. We had a big dinner over there, decorated the christmas tree, and hung up lights. His fiancé is getting more used us and beginning to come out of her shell a little bit. We were cracking jokes all night about hanging my blue balls on the christmas tree, how the angel stays on top, and fiberoptics. I think this loosened her up a bit. Anyway, it was a great time. It’s been kind of nice cause I’ve been so busy recently that the holiday season has been flying by without me getting a chance to reflect on how depressing it can all be.

It was another pleasant weekend in Hubsville. It started off with a whimper. After work on Friday I went immediately home and proceeded to lie on the couch all night. I watched A Simple Plan, which was relatively good. It certainly confirmed my enjoyment of Billy Bob Thorton’s acting and had some enjoyable aspects but belongs firmly in the “wait for it to come on video” category. Or you can do as I did and just catch it on the USA channel or something. I was in bed by like 9:30.

On Saturday I got up early and drove to my moms house were we all met for a ride down to the springs to visit my grandma and celebrate thanksgiving, cause here in Hubsville we celebrate holidays when it convenient, not because the calendar tells us too. We had a large turkey, mashed potatoes, greenbeen casserole, stuffing, salad, yams, and pumpkin pie. It was your all American t-day dinner. My brother, Pandy, and I spent a couple of hours rummaging threw my grandmas stuff. My brother came away with a couple of my grandpa’s old suits, which were really cool. I came away with two full photo albums of my baby pictures. My brother was humorously pissed that I had two photo albums of baby pictures and he didn’t have any. I guess that’s one advantage of being the first born son.

Afterwards we hurried back to town and I took off to Hecklers graduation party. It was nice. Somehow I was able two fit two bowls of chili in my stomach while there. I was nice to see him cause it’s been more than a few months. AP also showed up with his family. I took a shine to his boy who was a five-year-old spazz with a toy Tarzan spear.

After the graduation I went to the Beaches for a housewarming/holiday party. The party was huge with two kegs of beer and an open bar and tons to eat. The beaches house is enormous, something like five bedrooms, and they’re angry that all the neighbors asked them how many kids they have and not if they have any kids at all. At around midnight the debauchery started with beer-pong and quickly digressed from beer-pong-without-pants-on to basement dancing to their new Booty Time cd. It always good when the host ends up passing out in a chair with nothing on but his boxers, a t-shirt, and a Santa hat. I ended up not getting home till the wee hours of the morning.

Most of Sunday morning was spent sleeping in. I ran some errands, gots me’s hairs cut, and did some x-mas shopping. In the evening I went over to my moms. She was having a get together cause she had friends in from Australia. They were really cool and had the uncanny ability to make fun of everything and everybody without making anyone feel bad about it. It was wonderful.

A while back SE was in town. We took a little architectual rehab tour of the Lodo area. While walking around, we tried to see if the Denver Gas & Electric (which is now a datacenter) building was lit up. Everyone was dissapointed that it wasn’t. Well now for the holidays it’s been lit up again (Denver has lots of great christmas lights). So this one is for you SE…

It seems like all I’ve been doing lately is working and waiting. I’m not sure if I’m not leaving myself much time for anything else or if maybe I just don’t care for it. Maybe that’s just the way I’ve subconsciously decided to take care of my business. I haven’t been bored lately, in fact, I currently have too many demands. Well, I take that back, just enough demands. And the people making the demands are being awfully conscious of them and giving me plenty of room. Now if they could just give me more time. Heavy work deadlines are looming as the end of the year draws closer. Family is making the typical holiday demands. And friends are making callings to my social-self. I haven’t been proactive on many fronts. But then again, I have taking some bigger leaps on others.

This is my busy time of the year for work. And it’s really busy. Blech. Almost through though. Over this past weekend I headed up the Rod’s cabin just outside of Fairplay. I left on Saturday morning. It’s a long drive and a windy town but it’s worth it for a relaxing weekend. There were 11 of my friends up there lazing around for the weekend. We were all slippers and sweatpants and comfy sweaters. I started out my afternoon in the mountains with a quick nap, really, the only way to start off a lazy weekend. I the laid around and read my book, watched TV, and then interspersed that fun with playful bouts involving my friends one-year-old and one-and-a-half-year old daughters who are a complete joy now that they have developed some personality. A baby is just a baby until the personality kicks in - then the fun begins.

Later in the evening we all gathered around the dining table and ate a enormous spaghetti dinner, drank wine, had tons of laughs, drank beer (somehow, over the two nights, the twelve of us were able to drink an entire keg. Yeah, we got problems), took pictures, and played mexican train and uno attack, which Father Jones somehow turned into pornography. Of course, Father Jones can turn a BBC special about Mother Theresa into pornography easier than he can undo a bra clasp, so this uno incident came as no surprise to anyone.

Later in the evening I took the telescope out to the front porch. Being hidden away in the mountains, with little light pollution, the cabin provides some great star gazing. Because I have been the biggest fan of Jack Horkheimer (keep looking up) since I was a teenager, I knew how to locate Saturn and that it would be at it’s best right now. I had never seen Saturn and it’s rings in the flesh so I was pretty awestruck and excited when I saw it through the telescope. And I felt kinda proud that it was something that I could do on my own. I actually started to shake a bit and ran in to tell everyone they gotta come see this. Only about half the people got up to see it, but those that did were just as excited as I was and we couldn’t stop talking about the planets and Stephen Hawkins wheelchair for a while afterward.

At some point in the evening I crashed out. I guess I feel asleep before the beer was gone, and before the Indian leg wresting and basement basketball tournament ever got started. I’m glad though, cause the kiddies were rise and shiney at 7:30. Ouch. I don’t even get up that early on workdays. I lazed around and catnapped and watched football and ate leftovers for about six hours before finally peeling myself off the couch and heading back into the city. Thanks for the stay Rod and Ting, I had a blast.

I had my company holiday party on Friday. It was enjoyable but nothing too extraordinary. It beat the crap out of lasts years holiday party (which I didn’t bother attending) that was held in the office and involved everyone bringing their kids and an office santa. One of the younger guys set up the party this year. It was held at Blue 67, one of those super-fancy martini bars in the Lodo area, dimly lit, lots of beautiful people, no smoking, blue neon striping across the ceiling, a live jazz band, private booths with curtains, and uncomfortable chairs. The type of place that actually has $400 bottles of cristal on the wine list just to make sure you know how hip you are for being there. I sat at the same table the whole time because I didn’t feel the need to shake everyone’s hand just because I’m seeing them outside of the office. That kind of schmoozing just turns me off. It’s the opposite of what the holidays are about for me. And that’s why I’m not in sales. Of course I made a point to wish all my work friends a happy holiday though. And two hours worth of free martinis is always nice. Afterwards a big group of us headed out to Lime for a few more drinks. It was a lot more fun to get the holiday party formalities and stuffiness out of the way and just party with fun people from work.

As I have been expecting for sometime, I have confirmed that I have fallen out of the loop with my friends. Last night Father Jones called me up telling me that he had a hall pass from his wife and I should join him for beers. I wasn’t much in the mood but it’s rare that I actually get invited to come out and meet for drinks with my friends (particularly those who have a wife and kids) so I took him up on the offer. I met Father Jones and Squiggley at The Lazy Dog. It was there that I learned that Mr. Jones is definitely moving to Atlanta in March, that Squiggley has been out of work for almost two weeks, and that Mrs. Freedom lost her job too (she was actually a the bar by chance, having a going away party with coworkers). And I swear I was the last to find out that Dan had a bun in the oven and another friend had two. So, I realized that I really do have to start keeping in touch more often. Some of it’s my fault (probably more than I’d care to admit) and it kind of sucks. Have I become way too independent? I’ll have to examine this. Fortunately this weekend I’ll get a chance to see all these people and bitch at them about not keeping me informed.

Also, I’ve recently discovered that there is shit that I write here that can cause problems in my real life relationships. It’s a sucky realization, but is probably something that every person who does this sort of thing (writes down there personal shit that is) runs across at some point. I definitely have a better understanding of how having a blog can complicate my life.

God I feel like ten pounds of shit in a five-pound bag. You know you’re hungover when it’s noon and you’ve drank two glasses of water and two cups of coffe and still haven’t pissed yet. I came into work a half-hour late cause I simply couldn’t drag myself out of bed. I nearly called in sick. But I knew if I could tuff it out for a couple of hours I’d be okay. What a struggle.

I went to the local haunt, which I found out, is going to be closed all of January for remodeling. What am I going to do? I know most of the bartenders there and have had some great times. When I got there the bartender and I started picking drinks with the dirtiest names out of the bartenders bible, he would make them, and we both would drink them. A server suggested we have a strawberry kamikaze. The bartender fixed us up a shaved beaver. I suggested we have a run, skip and get naked, which contained the lethal combination of rum, vodka, brandy, triple sec, soda water, and beer. Best of all everything was free. I’m not sure why. But I didn’t complain. I drank all night on six dollars. I ran into gobblegirl, or she ran into me, literally. She was being pursued all night by some tooter that she would periodically come down and complain to me about and another bigger dude that she ended up regretfully leaving with. This kinda bothered me, but only cause I was drunk and emotional.

Later I went to another local bar cause I wanted to test it out as a January replacement. I sat at the corner of the bar next to a cute girl in sweats and a blond that looked like a beat-up cameron diaz. The blond said we looked sad and that we should each go around in a circle and tell about something good that happened today. We all stumbled through our dumb stories and then started talking about the 8 kids who have recently died from the flu in Colorado cause it’s sometimes easier to talk about the bad stuff than it is to talk about the good stuff. Me and sweatpants hit it off pretty good and talked about getting drinks again some time. Clobbered Diaz gave sweatpants her phone number and sweatpants threw it in a trash basket on the way home. We proceeded to make fun of her, but in a nice way.

I get this thing that happens to me. And I’m not sure why. The majority of the time it happens if I skip a meal. But sometimes it’ll happen a couple of hours after eating. I seems to resemble the symptoms of low blood sugar or diabetes. I can feel it coming on. It starts out with a kind of funny feeling in my stomach that spills in to my limbs, a sort of tingly, tired feeling. After a while, say about 5-15 minutes, I start to get shaky, much like “the shakes” people get when they get real hungry, but these are a little more violent. Very soon after the shakes I’ll break out into cold sweats.

I got a call yesterday from my pops. We were going to go have a look at his new house. He said he had the garage door opener and we could probably sneak through the back door to have a snoop around. I told him I’m gonna opt out till he actually has a key to the place. He laughed and said that was understandable. Then he announced he was getting married. He said he didn’t want to tell me over the phone but he couldn’t wait. I’m really excited for him. He said they are thinking of setting a date for sometime in spring. It’s been, I don’t know, four, maybe five years since the divorce. Not that it matters how long it’s been really. I’m just glad he’s happy. She’s a wonderful woman and they’ve known each other for a long time. They are both fantastic and loving people. Very deserving of each other. Congratulations pops!

They took care of me this weekend.

The Lebers and I went out for drinks. We sat at the bar the entire time. No pool, no dancing, no pinball, no shuffleboard. Mostly just good conversation. Not exciting but fun, and more than that, I needed it. I split myself among white russians and gin & tonics glad that my stomach has an iron constitution. We stayed till 12:00 then I trolled the local haunt, talked to a too drunk girl about Steven King being sick. Wouldn’t be cool if he died in some super-scary (but painless) way, like eaten from the inside out by anesthetizing worms with fangs. And then went home.

The next day I went to go see the Lebers new house. It’s beautiful. Huge. Hip. And has a hottub. I’m jealous. They soothed my green monster with bowls of cheese dip, all the bloody mary’s and beer I wanted and a large screen TV playing local football and hockey all day. Later Mr. Leber made turkey soup for everyone. I seriously can’t remember the last time one of my friends (excluding family) have invited me over to their home for dinner without it being some sort of party or occasion. That hurts to think about, some I’m greatful for days like these. Tho, I can’t think of the last time I’ve done it for one of my friends either.