Oh Hey There!

I spent massive amounts of time shopping before Christmas. In spite of all our efforts, we still ended up at the mall on December 23rd, although it was really only to purchase one last item.

Cynthia also had two weeks off for the holidays, so we hung out a couple times. We did a little shopping and got massages. The "spa" we went to was interesting - neither of us had been there before, and it turned out to be a small place in a business park. The neon signs in the windows should've been a clue - it seemed okay when we went in, but it certainly wasn't fancy or anything. Inside, however, I discovered that the walls didn't go all the way to the ceiling - they were about a foot short. The result of that was that I could totally hear everything in the room next door, and there was a male customer who was making all sorts of groaning noises and saying, "Oh, that's good!"

I not only had to listen to that guy, but yet another guy that they put in the room afterwards. I got a nice massage, but that place was pretty sketchy!

The two of us also spent an afternoon playing Band Hero and Lips and singing until we couldn't sing anymore. I think we were both getting a glimpse of what it might be like to be women of leisure, haha.

We spent Christmas Eve with Steve and Erin and Erin's family, and then Christmas day with mine. Some of my extended family came out to visit this year - my cousin Derek and his wife, Katherine, and his parents all came out from NY, and my aunt Mercia came out from Texas. She even brought along the Japanese exchange student who has been living with her.

We played our not-so-annual flag football game the day after Christmas. My brothers, my cousins Mark and Henry, and Kaoru the exchange student all came over and we played in the park near our house. We had a blast. My brothers and I were all decked out in Cal gear, of course, and I played quarterback most of the time. I also had a couple of good catches and runs, although Marc made a really nice over-the-shoulder catch for a touchdown on a ball that Henry threw.

We got caught up on movies a bit as well - watched Up in the Air, The Blind Side and Avatar (in IMAX 3D). All were really good. Avatar was a bit formulaic plot-wise, but it was a beautiful movie.

Marc and I played tons of Call of Duty online, mostly with Bill and his friends. We both stink, but I think we're slowly getting better. It's so addicting - we'd be up until 2 or 3 in the morning sometimes.

I'm sure there's tons of things we did that I'm forgetting, but my brain is so fried these days (probably as a consequence of those late nights gaming), that whatever it is will just have to wait until next time.

Happy New Year, all.