Holiday Results

I survived the holidays!  Can’t say I’m totally unscathed.  Also, I am ashamed to admit, I did aim my dragon flames of bad attitude at my mom’s holiday table and scorch everyone’s good mood to a crisp.  Don’t know quite what my problem is but something triggers in me, and each Christmas I unleash all my ugliness with the perfect timing of a metronome.  Only Husband, Best Friend, and my in-laws were spared this year.  Pretty much everyone else was held under, burbling and flailing, while I drowned their holiday spirit.  I think I’ve found my calling.  I should have business cards made up: Party Pooper and Mood Deflater for Hire, call 1-800-BAD-TIME for a, well, bad time.

Although, I must say, I did excel this year at gift-giving for Husband.  (Of course, it wasn’t hard to top what I got him last year – a $99 garbage can.  Talk about misguided.  The poor kid, I swear if he never got me another gift again I’d have to understand.)  This year, he got everything on his list, plus an authentic draft animation cell from THE FAMILY GUY, framed in archival/UV materials.  OK it’s his favorite show, after ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.  But the real present is that I’m actually going to let him hang it up.  If you think I’m kidding, just ask him how many of his toys and “art” things are slowly decomposing in the basement of our house in Pennsylvania.

My favorite gift (among a nice array of cool ones) was a book of marathon stories (from Husband) and Rose Lip Balm (from Best Friend).  I’m easy to please.  It’s either that or a diamond necklace, and probably I’ll end up buying that for myself one of these days.  Hopefully I’ll be able to afford it before my neck gets all crinkly & saggy.  Yum, I know you all read (I know,  “read” is a generous term.  Let me substitue “skim”)  skim my blog for the vivid, appealing images I paint with words.

Ran 5 miles yesterday morning.  It was great–reliably fantastic, like my favorite vibrator.  Oops did I just say that?  Anyhoo, I ran over the 59th Street Bridge, one of my usual runs, and it was amazing how dead the roads were.  Ok, so I was jogging at 9am on Christmas, but still. Usually I can’t cross Queens Plaza on the approach without waiting for at least a few cars to pass.  It was so still there wasn’t even any urban tumbleweed (you know, those gross tangles of plastic grocery bags, food wrappers, big feathers, and coffee cup tops).

An ex-boyfriend from another life found me online this week.  It’s wonderful to hear how well he is doing and how he’s succeeded on his own terms (as he’d always threatened he would, ha ha), but man is it strange as hell conjuring him up again.   Life’s funny that way, you think you’re moving forward but really you’re just kind of looping around in some sort of Crazy 8, and when you pass old familiar places you realize it’s not that you’re “advancing” so much as changing, adapting and growing.