Has it been five whole years since I started that ol’ navel-gazing chestnut? I’m rather bummed about the section not gaining any additional stories from others sharing their past holiday joys with me: those special toys, memories, etc. I know my friends have them and they’re not too personal. C’est la vie. Maybe I should just record them, transcribe what was said!
It all came full circle during the last holiday stretch. I just re-read the first run of 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2002. These certainly need some tweaking and editing. Hell 2002 could use some memory inducement! What a yawner! Then all the horrible things from 1992 come welling up like an emotional geyser so 2002 appears to be pretty sweet.
This Christmas was like the election…a push. It was great hanging out with my Aggie nephews, seeing a movie at Alamo (Django Unchained, review coming) and taking my time exercising; I had the whole Apple Gym to myself for a while! The sucky part is having to stick around to work during the traditional shutdown period. For the last two years I got the week off. I tried to make plans earlier in the Fall, try to make a repeat of 2011’s Chicago trip. It all fell threw with a destination and management kept dodging the request until I was finally told I would have to come in last week; should’ve told me that like over a month ago. Sure there’s the extra money, especially in light of the bills fueled by Molly’s death, Somara’s surgery and the server’s hard drive failure; yet I can’t exchange the money for more time on Earth. Poor Somara is stuck working too. It better pay off when we get those fat checks next month; we can’t go on vacation anytime until late Spring at the earliest.
What was I doing five years ago?
Somara had recently started her training class to join Apple as a member of the iTunes billing support group. She was a temp initially. Somara was a trooper too, she kept her part-time gig with HEB for several more months. For Christmas she gave me the new iPod Touch with a nice message engraved on the back, thus making it the first iPod I’ve never resold nor given away. It’ll be the music source for our next car! My Aggie nephews gave me a customized pair of Chucks they painted. Those remain in my Chucks rotation. I’m confident I went to work and tried to grab every possible early-out offered. We had two vehicles then, it was possible. I am certain we didn’t have any serious fun over the weekdays.
I did go to Houston by myself to hang out with Sonia and her family, rang in the New Year with the giant Polish delegation; other ethnic groups were likely present. It was sweet to finally meet Sonia’s daughter Julia. Philipe and I had a spirited debate about the upcoming US election; he’s a French citizen so he’s really a neutral observer. I was already a vocal supporter for Obama figuring he was the long-shot against Hilary, the DLC and the warchest she built up. I really preferred Bill Richardson, I just knew he was too qualified (fluent Spanish speaker, former governor, former UN ambassador, former Congressman, former cabinet member, had met PDRK’s dictator in person). Had a good time. Would’ve had a great time if Somara were with me.
The overall mood at the time was only semi-sour and not as filled with nervousness, the election would provide this by late Summer. Semi-sour? I felt work had hit a rut. Probably from the frustration of supporting 10.5, this release contained numerous new technologies we (meaning my co-workers and me) had to get our brains around. Obviously nothing came of it.
I did spend a couple evenings at Blue Marble to write the initial Six Days stories. I do miss the place. Sad to see it go under. Running an independent coffee shop is hard when you get triangulated by Starbucks. It was great while it lasted.
What is now the Seventh Day of Christmas ushered the end of a rather mixed or bittersweet year. Sweet: Jose & Nancy’s wedding; seeing the Maggi faction of Tampa, FL; seeing Sonia’s family; paying off Somara’s first student loan; Duran Duran concert; and getting my first new Apple portable in four years. Bitter: Wicca’s passing; Kenny’s Coffee ending badly; Somara’s health; and no trip to Las Vegas. I’m grateful the following year turned out a lot better.