Christmas and New Year's break

So, I was stuck on side shifts, 2pm to 11pm, for about a month and a half, as the machine we are working on struggles to get back up to limping. I don't mind the shift so much, since it allows for a normal sleep schedule, but merely allowing for one doesn't necessarily mean one will stick to it, and sure enough, I spend enough time of my shift thinking of what it is I want to do in whatever videogame I'm playing at the time (mostly Civ IV, participation in the GOTM, WOTM, and SGOTM games over at civfanatics.com is addictive as hell), and wound up in the habit of coming home from work, staying up until 4 in the morning playing on the computer, then sleeping until about noon.

This worked well enough, up until the 11am flight I was supposed to take out of the Dallas airport on Saturday morning, the 23rd, to start my Xmas break.

I wound up staying up pretty much all night on the 21st, then going into work ass-tired on the 22nd. I pushed through, went home, packed my bags in record time, and collapsed shortly after, with a 7:30am wakeup plan for the drive down to Dallas, knowing that the 23rd was certain to be a heavy travel day.

It actually wasn't that bad, and the flight was remarkably smooth, but for one little detail...

So, I arrive at the Pensacola airport and am picked up by my brother, with whom I time it perfectly, grabbing my bag and heading out to the road at the precise moment that they arrive. Doug and Trish are living on base now, though, which means a bit of added security getting in, and in the process of accomplishing a visitor's pass for me, I realize something ugly: I don't have my driver's license. SHIT!!! I had it out of my wallet to get past security in the airport, of course, but the process of putting it back in after I don't need it any more is almost automatic. For some reason I must have forgotten, and left it in my front pocket; it must have fallen out at some point, probably on the plane. Well, isn't that a pisser. Regardless, not much to be done other than file a missing item report with Continental and hope it turns up, barring that, getting a replacement.

Meanwhile I manage to enjoy X-mas at the brother and sister-in-law's. Doug and Trish are doing well, though Trish is frazzled with having a 3-month-old and a 3-year-old both in the fold. Christina (Chris), the 3-year-old, is amazing, just so advanced for her age. Doug and Trish keep bragging on her and part of that I presumed was just the typical mom-and-dad my-daughter-is-so-advanced-and-incredible bravado, but in Chris' case it's really true. Speaking in full sentences, pretty much already able to read, quickly becoming full-fledged bilingual, able to transfer thoughts back and forth between English and Spanish words, and already pretty well capable of abstract thought. I have a scary smart niece. I can only imagine what she'll be like at the teenage years.

Jocelyn, the two-month-old, is still pretty much limited to feeding, crying, sleeping, and pooping, but she seems to be doing just fine at that so far, seems healthy, and Trish is just about the perfect mother with the both of them.

As for Christmas, , I managed to score some decent loot, with my parents getting me a 4GB iPod Nano, which should be a good complement to my 40GB iPod (mega?) that, while still quite useful, I can't really take with me for anything active. Doug and Trish got me a new pocket knife (a very very nice one), a large selection of popcorns to go with a popcorn maker they got me last year (a better gift than it sounds for a bachelor like me), and Medieval II: Total War, which, I realize now, is a hella good game.

I got my parents a yearlong subscription to Sirius radio, in conjunction with the actual radio itself, which was purchased by Doug, nabbed Doug a 300+ piece drill bit set (Tricia's idea), and nabbed Trish Season 1 of 24.

Most importantly, I caught up on some sleep, desperately needed.

On the 28th I flew out to Houston to spend New Year's with Angie. Getting onto the plane was surprisingly easy. I had expected a hassle, having lost my driver's license, but I printed out a boarding pass online, didn't have to show any idea when checking my bag, and for security, just had to go through a hand-screening.

The four or so days with Angie were interesting and dynamic, as they usually are. The first night we grabbed dinner and just hung out, talking, catching up, since it had been a while since we chatted. When the time came for bed, I asked her where she wanted me, and she pointed to a corner of the bed, which came as a bit of a surprise, given that the last time I visited, I ended on the couch. Nothing went on, but I've missed sharing a bed with girls, almost as much as I've missed sex, on this single streak. The latter wasn't going to happen, but the former was still very nice.

The 29th we spent out in Houston, going to the museum of fine arts, which was good to kill a couple of hours, grabbing dinner at a nice restaurant, and grabbing some liquor for when we got home. She grabbed some pre-made margaritas (since I had no ID, I didn't venture into the liquor store with her), and some rum, and by the end of the night we had finished off the margaritas (about 2L worth) and some of the rum.

Needless to say, we were both completely shit-faced, and I was surprised with how far we let things go. We warmed up with a backrub, which quickly turned into a foot-rub, which quickly turned into a leg-rub, which quickly wound up with us snuggled up together, pretty much hitting full-fledged second base. Through some abstract line of conversation we wound up joking about erect nipples; "When you're cold or turned on", she said, laughing, "it looks like you're smuggling M&M's", she said, and I brushed my hands across her chest, (barely contained in her low-cut nightie) laughing that we were definitely at attention. I asked her which of the two reasons it was, and she said, "Well, I'm definitely not cold", and I asked her to show me, and she did. That kind of surprised me - Angie and I have made out before, slept in the same bed, done some basic cuddling, but I'd never seen her tits before. Just one of those moments.

When we went to bed we spooned for the first half of the night, until at some point she came back from the bathroom and said "Okay, time to go back to your side", and I did. We didn't really talk about what happened, and went back to being platonic, after that. We're dysfunctional that way.

The 30th was a lazy day, unsuccessfully shopping for a TV stand for her, and making soft tacos at her place for dinner.

New Year's Eve was spent with more unsuccessful shopping, followed by a trip out to Galveston to peruse some of the shops out that way, and then a trip to Khima, a nice boardwalked area on the gulf, for the night. She kind of annoyed me by calling her friend Derek, whom she had been crushing on, and asking him to join us ("You can see me now, you can see him any time", I snipped at her, "so what, is my company not good enough?") We counted down the new year in a bar in the area, uneventfully, driving home carefully (Angie didn't drink) and going to sleep wordlessly. New Year's Day was spent shopping back up in Houston (in a nice score, I picked up two Guy Guyvriel Kay books I'm missing - The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Last Light of the Sun), and finally getting her a TV stand she was happy with, at Best Buy. She dropped me off at the airport at about 4:30, for my 7:00 flight.

The line was impressive - New Year's Day is always a big travel day - but the Continental staff was there en masse and it moved quickly. Lacking ID, I was still a little nervous about getting on, since Houston is a larger airport, a little less relaxed when it comes to security. I told the lady at the counter that I didn't have my Driver's License, that I'd lost it on a previous flight, and she didn't look that amused, asking if I had any other government ID.

My social security card wound up making the difference, though for what purpose I can't say, since as far as I can tell all that it proves is that a person with my name actually exists. But, combined with a non-government-issue photo ID (my work ID) and my credit card, seemed to assuage her. That's weird to me, since if someone were to steal my wallet, and forge a quick laminated card with my name and their picture on it, they would have been able to successfully pass themselves off as me, but whatever. The flight and drive were uneventful after that, and I rolled into town at around 11...

To find that I had no water. The day before I left, the city called me to inform me that the water meter reader had noticed an exceptionally high reading for my water usage, and noticed that the ground in front of my house was exceptionally damp. I couldn't do anything about it then, since I was well on my way to heading out of town for a week and a half, but coming back, I find my water off altogether. I called a plumber this morning, who will take a look at it tomorrow morning at 8. Sigh. Two days without water makes me a smelly smelly person. I'll have to find an alternate place to shower, and will probably take tomorrow morning off.

But, to work for now. A big part of me doesn't want to go. One of my New Year's resolutions was to quit my job. Not until I have another one lined up, but nevertheless, I am done. If I'm still at KC at the end of February, I'll consider that a failure. I'm looking to take a few months off, maybe start again in May or June, to give me some time to get my stuff together. I think that would do me a world of good.