End of 07

Well, the 'holidays' are past - overall, nice to be away from work. No, seriously, not just 'nice to have time off', 'nice to have some down time.' It was an enormous weight lifted from my very soul not to have to think about the wretchedness for a few days. Xmas was very pleasant - many gifts that I appreciated and could use, the most satisfying overall christmas in a long time. Nicole was here for the eve (we went to the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir at Slim's - very uplifting & huge, diverse crowd), then the morning & much of the afternoon. Opening gifts, reading cards, writing letters, calling up family. In the evening, got together with Bonnie's friends (and our friends, as supported in our relationship) and caught a movie (it's a bit of a tradition for me to go to a movie on Christmas Day)... We saw 'Atonement' which I thought was drastically overly dramatic and over-rated. A lot of annoying plot leaps, distractingly confusing flashbacks and asides, and too long to get to the payoff. But most of what it did well was fantastic - looked gorgeous, the performances were pretty great, and the end was rather satisfying and thoughtful.
New Years we went to a Burning-Man -type extravaganza (in our pajamas) - 5 stages of music (rock bands on stages on alternate ends of the hall; couple different DJs; burlesque; wandering slit-walkers). Sipped champagne at midnight & got outta there to get home before the craziness. Happy New Year.

But, of course - the inescapable downside - not getting far enough through your To-Do list... Didn't get nearly enough music done (though we did do some serious demo-recording with the band . Slept way too much, ate way to much (though I did get to the gym nearly every day). Got many financial obligations done, but still many outstanding. Well, ya do what you can.

Also had a string of really bad luck around here. Nicole's car fell apart on the freeway (turns out the axle wasn't fitted securely. Luckily no one was injured, but after paying to fix that, it died literally out the door & she had to dump it. Then Bonnie's car started hemorrhaging power steering fluid (not just leaking, like it was before). Then the word from the shop was it needed steam clean & other diagnostics on the power steering, and suspension, and tires, to the tune of more than a grand. (She managed to get some basic work done to get it on the road again.) Then the coup-de-gras : I came home one day to find our house had been broken into. The side door busted open, the alarm tripped. Fortunately, the scummy human detritus didn't take much - rifled through a drawer and took a nice camera (Canon Digital Rebel EOS - if you find one at the Berkeley Flea Market, give me a heads-up).

Other fun stuff we got up to - went to the DaVinci: The Genius exhibit (kinda cheesy, but chock full of fantastic info on DaVinci's inventions, and an X-ray analysis of the Mona Lisa); went to Spud's Pizza Friday Comedy showcase - lot of sour self-deprecating Jewish humour, but overall a very fun, entertaining evening, and excellent pizza if poor service; saw a women's bball game -St. Mary's vs. Cal State Fullerton, (Bonnie's alma mater) which the Titans unfortunately lost in the last 3.7 seconds, but thrilling);

Well, one other piece of good and exciting news! Bonnie submitted an essay for Newsweek's "My Turn" and it was published! It's her view on institutional marriage vs. personal love, in socially-conscious & family-tinted relationship definitions. I encourage you all to pick up the issue at your local indie bookstore (Jan 6, Obama primary cover story), but if you don't get there soon, you can read the article & controversial comments here :
http://www.newsweek.com/id/84538

Next post - my top 2007 music picks!