Christmas 2010

Good Afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen,

Just taking a quick break from packing, rearranging, and evaluating what I need to survive... and all the piles of other sh*t that I have. Don't worry, I'm not going to go into another "Into The Wild" kind of rant like I've done many times before (though it's still always in the back of my mind) but instead I'll just say that I probably have the heart of a noble gypsy... and talk about the wonderful week back in Utah for the holidays. And a he' he' go...

Thursday - Christmas Eve Eve

Spent the night at a hotel in Reno so that I wouldn't have to worry about driving in the morning, any possible "surprise six" storms or anything like that... and it worked out perfectly. The place even had a complimentary hotel shuttle, breakfast, and a fantastic front desk agent who I chatted with about the area. Great guy... but yeah, nothing major. Watched some football & some bits of movies like "Gremlins" and "A Few Good Men" flipping through the channels. Yawn... slept like a baby...

Friday - Christmas Eve

Early morning flight, got to Utah around noon, stepmom picked me up, did some present wrapping, went to my stepfamily's annual Christmas party... and my favorite part about it really... is they have all the kids dress up in bathrobes and angel costumes and stuff... and do a quick Nativity Scene while grandpa reads the passage from the Bible about it & the kids dress as Mary, Joseph, the wisemen, angels, farm animals (sometimes) and of course, baby Jesus... and I've really liked it that the past few years, thanks to adoption... we've had a beautiful black baby Jesus... and I think that's awesome for a Mormon family to see. I'm easily amused. Anyway, here are some pictures...

Spent the night at my brother's house so that we could do the early morning kid thing with the niece & nephew (and my mom was graciously invited to give them gifts for an hour by my brother... douche) but yeah... the kids were excited that Uncle $teve would get to sleep in their room with them (on a blow up twin sized mattress).

Satuday - Christmas

Was awoken by my niece Kairi yelling "Uncle $teve, wake up, it's Christmas!!!" and then jumping on me as I lay in bed... quickly followed by my nephew Vinny yelling excited gibberish (or maybe I was just groggy) so I got up and we went to open presents. Seriously, cutest kids in the world... no disrespect to other kids out there... but seriously... just look at 'em...

"I'll never join you! You killed my father!"

"No Vinny... I... AM... your father."

"NOOOOOOOO!!!"

After a few hours, we then headed to my dad's Chrstmas morning in Slick City, opened some presents, had some breakfast, good times...

My dad likes guns...

and this could be incriminating at some time...

Vinny's present was a nerf gun bigger than him...

This picture was taken moments before

Uncle $teve got shot in the groin

After a few hours there, I then drove up to my mom's house for even more presents, and hanging with my mom, stepdad, Aunt Pat, & Alicia... and of course Kiel stook around for a while trying to cause a fight & being grumpy the whole time... because he's a douche... but whatever... his issues. We all had fun in spite of him... and that probably pissed him off even more. Played this stupid dice game called Farkle... and that's all I have to say about that (even won once... but yeah, lame). Elefun with the kids was even better. Slept beneath my old bedroom set with all the mirrors (stashed at my mom's until I stop being such a gypsy) so that was cool.

It's a sanitizing wand... get your mind out of the gutter

Sunday

Spent the morning hanging out with my mom... and then went to my brother's (aunt's really... but that's where he's staying while his condo is being remodeled) and hung out with the kids for the day. I don't understand why... but we were having a lot of fun... and he just likes yelling at the kids for being kids sometimes. Especially while he's just sitting playing video games. "QUIET!!! I can't hear the TV" and fully forgetting that I'm in the room playing with them making sure they're not breaking stuff. I hate to dwell on the douchiness of my brother sometimes... but it's just so constant. So why spend time with him? Same reason as everybody else...

That night, we met up with my dad... and went to see "Tron: Legacy" in IMAX 3D... and it was AWESOME!!! I highly recommend it. Spent the night at my dad's... but then realized that I left one of my suitcases at my brother's... so I knew that I'd probably end up spending the next day there when I went to pick it up.

Monday

Left around noonish (nobody at dad's home anyway) and hung out with my brother for the day. Not a whole lot going on other than he had the balls to show me his condo that's being remodeled... and all the stuff that's being added (jetted tub, built-in surround sound, new appliances, etc) and I basically wanted to punch him in the dick for about an hour... but whatever... apparently being a douche has its benefits. That night, we watched "Inception" another great flick that I highly recommend. I mean... it won the $tevie in my last entry.

Tuesday

Met up with K-Fish to go see Snow Basin and have some lunch at the Needles Restaurant at the summit... and it was some great Wiener Schnitzel with Spaetzle. Funny thing, though I lived within a half hour of Snow Basin for the VAST majority of my life... I had never gone up there before. Pretty sweet.

That night, I met up with Lilie, her fiance Kyle, A-Lo, Bubbles & JL Clyde for some sushi at Simply Sushi... and we just had a great old time catching up on eachother's lives... and then A-Lo, Bubbles & I went to Gracie's for some drinks. I did enjoy how all the guys were hitting on the two lovely ladies with me... but then they'd ask my relation to them... and they would respond with "He's our pimp" and trust me... these guys couldn't afford what these girls are worth on any level. Thanks ladies.

Wednesday

Spent the day with my dad watching movies like "The Expendables" and "Transporter 3" and just having a good old time, ordering a pizza for lunch & what have you. Then he took me to the airport as a blizzard was forming... but there's a good thing that came out of this airport visit. I tried something crafty... and it worked beautifully. So, I was in the security line... and there was a VERY cute redhead TSA agent giving patdowns... but to the ladies. There was a dude in his forties patting the gentlemen... so I thought I'd try something. My turn came up... I went through the little scanner cylinder thing... and as I came out, he said he was going to pat me down, so I said, "Well, I think it'd be more comfortable for both of us if somebody else did." "What do you mean?" "Well... let me put it this way, I'm moving to San Francisco in a week... but if you're comfortable with it, I am." Apparently he wasn't comfortable with it... so then he asked the cute redhead to step in (as I tried not to smile). Arms out to the sides, she checks my ribs for... not sure what exactly, gun holsters? Then she says, "I'm going to check your backside if that's alright." "Absolutely. Safety first." So she does a quick glide over my back & buttocks, no real groping... but whatever, her loss. She gave me a smile, said I was good to go, and then asked, "You're not gay, are you?" "I'm very happy. On behalf of all of us, thank you for keeping the skies safe. Happy holidays!" and walked off. So the playing "the gay card" apparently does work... but the best part was... I didn't have to lie to play it. My comfort level would've increased getting groped by a cute redhead as opposed to a middle aged dude. I am moving to San Francisco in a week. I was also very happy afterwards.

After that, it was a lot of delays, a few drinks at the bar, a chat with a lady with an English accent on her way to Boise & moving to Scottsdale (we chatted for about a half hour), sitting in a parked airplane for about two hours before take-off, an hour flight, waiting for another hour for my luggage, and then finding the city of Reno had been converted to an ice skating rink the night before... and after nearly getting hit by a sliding semi truck... while inside a sliding taxi van... I figured that the best idea was to stay at the hotel until morning when hopefully the roads would be a little clearer. It was late anyway.

Since then I've just been catching up at work (last week starting Monday), packing up for the move & making arrangements, and my New Year's Eve was kinda lame (just like last year) but whatever... just means a new year number on my checks.

That was my Christmas holiday, hope you all enjoyed. Really excited about this new adventure to San Francisco... and I have a lot of sh*t to move / give away in a week or so's time. Have a great night everybody!!!