It's a (mostly) Jolly Holiday with you, Bert

Well I guess it’s about time for an update. I apologize for the lack of chattiness lately, but I was away for the holidays, then my (albeit 8 yr old) home computer (quite literally) blew up and required repairs to obtain precious photos and files being held hostage inside the burnt-smelling CPU carcass. Today I venture to the Apple store for a much needed Powerbook upgrade.

Okay so last we chatted I was about to host Lionel Richie Fiesta Forever! It finally took place on the 17th and it was crazy. My mom was (almost too) surprised at how many friends I had. I guess I’m just really lovable and/or I’ve been real elusive the past few months, so people were eager to witness my public appearance (a la Willy Wonka) and/or everyone feels really sorry for me, which is another possibility. At any rate, there were oh about 80-90 people who made appearances, and I was real sad afterward because I couldn’t visit with everyone equally or for long periods of time. But it really was wonderful to see long lost friends and whatnot. There were actually so many people that I was (ridiculously) worried that I was part of one of those shows on TLC or Bravo or something and in fact, I wasn’t having a Lionel Festivus, but was instead going to be surprised with the wedding of my dreams or something. Which is a terrifying thought. So yeah I hope I get that kind of attendance at my actual wedding someday, assuming one ever materializes. My God, surprise wedding would be a horrible reality show premise. I’m surprised Fox hasn’t already tried it.

Post festivus, I went to Austin to visit with Aneil and meet his family. I was actually sort of stressed out, because it wasn’t a family event that I happened to be invited to, but instead an actual event planned around meeting me. So I did my best to be charming and funny and stuff my face with delicious Indian food. I hope it worked. His family is adorable too, so that made it easier.

Okay then I left Austin and almost immediately boarded a plane to Tampa to visit my mom’s sister (i.e. my aunt) and her family (weird uncle + psycho cousin). We weren’t looking forward to it (although my aunt is real cute) but we didn’t want to be home for the holidays and mom was pretty determined to leave Lake Charles (who could blame her? I hate being in the house without dad.) Okay so the week was decent enough, although the family situation in Tampa is absolutely insane, with my uncle being completely oblivious to pretty much the whole world (think: natural Zoloft to the max) and my cousin being unbelievably spoiled and/or selfish and/or insane. The last 2 days we were there she was upset because Fro went into her room while she was gone to get his mp3 player, and she basically went completely ape-shit crazy and yelled (at her mother!) to shut the f*** up, and other horrible things, then proceeded to continuously call the house phone with her cell so we couldn’t eat meals in peace, then blared the mix station with the bass turned all the way up so it shook the house. Yes. For 2 solid days. Crazy. Especially because her parents put up with that crap and in fact, buy her anything/give her anything/let her do anything she wants. We were completely miserable by the end of the week, and I made a silent vow never to see her again. Phew!

On the plus side we went to a Tampa Bay Bucs game and had a fun time. Maybe because we didn’t have to sit with crazy cousin. (I would make fun of the outfit she wore to the game, but that would just be mean and/or stooping to her level but suffice it to say it was humorous.) Other plus is that post-Tampa trips Fro and I love each other more because we realize that neither of us is insane, so we hug and buddy up a lot. It’s good.

We made it to the end of our tenure in Tampa, said our goodbyes (to my aunt only) and came back to glorious glorious TX. Fro went to Atlanta instead of Houston so he could play one final show at the Peach Bowl. Mom and I shopped till we dropped, then left for Austin to spend New Years with her BFF Priscilla and my BFF Amanda (oh yes plus boyfriend). Strangely/horribly/eerily, Amanda’s dad had a heart attack post-lawn-mowing, which is awful and brought back painful memories. We decided to start a lobbying group to prevent daddies from mowing the lawn after the age of 40. I felt sort of like a bad person, because although I was unbelievably relieved that he made it through surgery I was so jealous that he lived and my dad died. I’ve never been so jealous in my life. That’s probably a bad thing to say, but it’s true. Oh well.

New Year’s Eve was lame, as I finally had a small meltdown due to stress and sheer exhaustion. Stayed home with mom and Pris to watch Dick Clark whilst Aneil went to a party. Pretty pathetic, but it’s hard to celebrate the end of a year that so royally sucked. Anywho hope 2006 isn’t as bad.

Okay, so that’s pretty much it in summary. I’ll post some festivus pictures for your enjoyment. Hope your holidays were fun. La!