Highlights of the holidays:

• Cramming five cousins into my little apartment for one weekend. Make that cramming five almost-always-inebriated cousins. I hated cleaning up after them, but I did enjoy having family over and showing them around my not so little city.
• Spending Christmas week with Jason's family. They're such a HAPPY bunch. It was like sunshine was coming out of everyone's ears, eyes, nostrils... I asked Jason where he got his snark gene. It must be recessive, he said. His Mom told me this was the first Christmas he didn't bring a boyfriend with him, which was a relief to her. Then his cousins gave me a list of all the guys he brought with him to family reunions. I was very entertained by the details Jason filled me with when it was just the two of us with a leftover bottle of wine. Oh to have even half the excitement of my gay best friend's love life!
• Making a call to my own family. It broke my heart to hear the family's laughter at the other end of the line, them being so far away. For a brief moment I wished I were with them, but after hearing the bitterness in my Mom's voice, I knew it was right that we were still miles apart. I wondered if I shouldn't have made that call. But at least I got to hear her voice, and that I knew she was fine with everything except for us. And the most dramatic phone call award goes to...!
• Celebrating New Year's Eve by watching Love Actually many many times, wearing a silver gown, a tiara, eating pizza and drinking beer alongside two glamorously-dressed individuals. Alright, we were supposed to go to this awesome dress-up kind of party, but Ashley's car broke down, her girlfriend threw a fit and hitched a ride with some stranger, Jason and I helped revive the car, and then it was just the three of us in the cold night. And a beat-up car. Somehow we managed to ride the old thing back to Ashley's place, and there we stayed till the wee hours, watching DVD, while the tuxed lady and gentleman ate pizza lying on the floor, and silver-clad me had my feet up on the couch with a bottle of beer. Ashley was a bit mopey over her lady's brattinella-ness, and Jason and I were like, We keep telling you she's such a braaaaaaaaat! The three of us were totally wasted by the third time the movie played again, and I think my subconscious had memorized the movie on the fourth run.
• Waking up on New Year's Day to undesirable sounds of desire. Yeah, Ashley and her girl were going at it in their room. I thought someone was crying, but as soon as I saw that Ashley was missing from her spot on the floor, and that there was a trail of clothes leading to their room, well... I shook Jason out of his deep slumber and out of the apartment we ran. We were still hungover, and I think it was about 8 am, but a little bit of our drunkedness went away. It was her apartment anyway, but hearing your friend have smex is just a little bit on the gross side for me. Don't wanna hear it, don't wanna visualize.
• Having an internet detox. Wow, this is a pretty long entry. I did try to avoid going online the past few weeks. It was a dare between Jason and myself. But since he has a Blackberry, it's impossible for him to go offline. My phone's just a call and text Jurassic thing, but hey it serves its purpose. And now I get to choose where to have dinner, his treat.

Happy new year to the strangers reading this. Happy new year to my little apartment, which has now been scrubbed clean by moi. Happy new year to the city that I live in. Happy new year to my neighbors, even to that one guy neighbor I've been kind of avoiding. Happy new year to my family, I love you, always, even if we don't talk. Happy new year to my best friends, who are my family where I am.

Let's get crazy this year, shall we?