“I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.” - Pietro Aretino
I'm back to work today after a Christmas break that went much faster than I had imagined it would. The morning was cold and the the drive to work was quiet and wet. I gave up my entire 2009 vacation days for this break. I really got to work something out for unpaid vacation going forward. The rest of my life starts again today, or so is the mantra each new year.
So here is an overview of my break. First off, I don't have a digital camera right now, so I don't have pictures to post. I didn't take any but I collected some from other people's cameras like I did for thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I left them on my mother's computer, so it will be some time before I upload them. I really wish I took more pictures.
I drove down to the Valley on the 23rd and when I arrived, Erika was feeling sick from a happy hour in Mexico. It was still nice to see her since it had been some time. The next day, on Christmas eve, I visited my family and later went with Erika and her family to mass and a gathering afterwards. We ate tamales and turkey. That day I had found out that a gift I had bought for Erika for Christmas, she had already purchased. It was a perfume she mentioned she had wanted once while we were shopping, wanted so much she purchased it later. I guess it wasn't a hint, but an honest thought. It it the thought that counts right? I hoped so. At night, I hung out with my mom, dad and brother. We watched old family movies. I have to say by the end of the trip I was family videoed out. Vero's high school graduation was fun to see and it was nice seeing 1991 all these years later.
Christmas, I woke up a bit late and my job was to get the drinks for the party. Most places were closed so my nephew Andrew and I found a place, but they had no ice. That kind of sucked. Bekkah and Jamie came over. Erika dropped by and gave presents to everyone, kind of like Santa. She gave the girls Twilight books (1 and 2), bookmarks and presents for my family. She didn't have to, but she did. She also brought my presents. I got a harmony remote I had been wanting, ties, a shirt and a money clip. All such very thoughtful gifts. I gave her her gifts, which were now one less, including Christmas roses, a star necklace and some makeup I thought she would like. I hope she enjoyed her presents. She couldn't stay long because she had to get back to her family.
This year was not meant to be an expensive Christmas, but just the sheer number of people makes things really add up. I tired to get all the kids something they would enjoy. I won't go through a laundry list of presents, but I feel like I did a good job. The whole family was together, we had lunch, opened presents and just chatted a lot. Rick even sent over a nice basket that included nuts, which helped me learned that I can't open nuts well without a nutcracker. Later in the day, my Tio Cama and Tia Priss and family came by. The two babies (Celeste and Sebastian) were cooed, kissed, poked, prodded and compared. I'm glad I'm not a baby. They were cute though. I got my niece Celeste a swing that she very much enjoyed.
The 26th was my dad's birthday. I met up with Abram and we went to Mexico in the morning for lunch and bottles. I want to go off on the cops with machine guns and the mini tank there in the middle of the road, but I feel like I should just get used to it. I didn't much feel in danger, probably because where we were was a very safe place. After getting back, Abram left for Austin and my dad came over to my mom's house and we spent time there with him. The girls (Bex and Jamie) were still over as well. They got to stay a long time with us which was really nice. I worry the other kids might feel like there is favoritism, but I knew that they were going to have a Christmas with few presents, so I tried my best to help them have real presents as well. One of the things I got them was Uno Attacks. They love the game and it was the game I remember playing with their mom last.
That night I went to hang out with Ricardo. It had been a while since we hung out. He always seems like things are going so well. I need to keep better in touch. We met up with Jon and his fiancee who were down from Oklahoma. It had been forever since I had seen Jon, but it was good to see that he was still the same old Jon. I'm very happy for him. We went out to a bar where we met up with Jerry and ran into Sam. Sam really knows his beers, or at the least knows a lot more about them than I do. I should probably start expanding my list of favorites. The bar was a pretty good find by Rick and somewhere I'd go again. With Jon and Jerry there we were Juan short of our high school spring break trip were I first got really drunk. The years that have gone by.
I left shortly before midnight so that I could celebrate my birthday midnight with Erika, but I ended up being in my car when I turned 29 on Dec. 27th. This is the last year of my twenties, they went by so fast. The one thing I can't help thinking is that this is how old my sister Vero was when she passed away. I feel like I am now living the age of her last year of life. She already had two girls and a home and what would I leave behind? I don't know, it is just a thought I can't shake. I don't feel her age, she was always so much older than me. I never stop thinking of her. I usually go to Red Lobster for my birthday, but this year I figured it would be cheaper if we got a botana and ate it at my Mom's house. The food was good, I got some more presents from Erika, including a nice brown belt, a bmw key chain and boxers. At night, Erika's parents invited me to a fancy dinner with them. The place was one that needed reservations days in advance, was very nice and it is always so wonderful of them to invite me with them to eat. I had an amazing steak that I really enjoyed. Lana was headed back to NYC the following day.
The next few days I spent with Erika before we headed up to Austin for New Years. We arrived on the 30th. On the New Year's eve we went shopping at the mall and went to look at some phones for Erika. We left home early for the new years eve party Rino and Jess put together. Jess also decided to throw Rino a surprise birthday party (his bday is on the 2nd) as well.
A lot of people came over and we drank, ate snacks, played darts and watched the ball drop in New York on an hour time delay. I miss the days when they would show the ball drop live and then do something else for the the central standard time people. We had champagne and grapes and everyone played some Rockband. I didn't drink too much, but it was still a lot more than I usually drink. The 2nd was Rino's birthday, but I didn't really see him too much that day. I'm sure he had a good time and that there is a story there.
The rest of the trip wasn't all too exciting, but I guess it depends on how you look at it. I think part of vacation is resting and being on break. We went to a Barnes and Noble to shop for books. I looked for Pooch Cafe: Bark to Work Legislation, but they did not have it. It is not easy to find, which explains why it wasn't under the tree for me. I need to order that book online at some point. Erika did buy me the first Pearls Before Swine book. I was happy to notice that the author is a lawyer who quit his day job. I think it is very funny. There were quite a few books, so I have years to catch up on. I finished the book in one night. Here is yesterdays.
Another thing we did was watch a whole lot of movies. Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button, Changeling, Milk, Blindness, Bolt, Madagascar 2, National Treasure 2 and the Bucket List. Watching a movie is nice when it is cold outside and you can get under the covers. I don't feel up for reviews at the moment, but see Slumdog Millionaire.
One of the things we did was drive to the Natural Bridge Caverns to visit the Wildlife Ranch. It is kind of like an African safari. You pay money and drive through this path where there are all these exotic animals. It was pretty amazing. The ostrich stole the whole food bag from Erika while she was trying to feed it through the window. There were all kinds of animals, from rams, to camels and Rhinos. At one point we were surrounded by zebras and even though you shouldn't, we were feeding them with our hands. A baby zebra put his head in my window all the way in. It was kind of scary having a zebra head next to yours as Erika pushed it back with some food. They were pretty dosal though. It was my favorite part. I couldn't believe I was petting a zebra in my car. I almost got poked by this deer looking animal that had these long pointy horns. I mean like 3 feet long straight. The animal tried to eat something on the floor and as he put his head down they just missed me coming back up. After, we went to the petting zoo and see giraffes. Oh and lemours.
One night Erika got a really bad ear ache. I felt so bad for her. I went at 3am to Walgreens to get her some ear drops. I researched online for what I could do to help. I kept a warm towel on her ear and kept exchanging it hoping it would make her feel better. I tried all kinds of things, but I think the pain was too much, I don't think I made much improvement. I tried really hard though, but unlike in other things in life, you don't get points for effort when someone is sick and you are not helping. She was able to finally get to sleep.
The next day I took her to the doctor. Well it being me, I took her to the HEB clinic. I know it sounds like I'm a bad person, but they were really good there and gave her medicine and everything. We spent 3 hours there and it was much better than had we gone to the hospital the night before. She started to feel a lot better and the pain wasn't as bad for the rest of the trip even though she did have one really high fever.
It is Monday and I am now back at work. I have a lot of things I need to get in order in my life, but it seems like that is always the case. Money is once again on my mind, but I have no one to blame, so I'll figure it out. I need to focus on staying positive and focused.
tempting means tempting
I'm kind of surprised that "dishonest" and liar when down. Check out "Christian." Do you see that Mom?