That's It?

It's been quiet, as always, around these parts. The holidays, as well as 2005 itself, have come and gone and with them, some new perspectives, inspirations, and aspirations have been gained. Plus, I now have a subscription to Sheep! (Thanks, Driz. I'm sure I'm now on Homeland Security's watch list.) So I got that going for me.

Christmas was spent with the family, and it was quite a wonderful time, up until the call on Christmas evening informing my mother that she had lost another sibling. My uncle's passing was unexpected and gave a bleak ending to what was an otherwise great holiday weekend. I hadn't seen this uncle since my grandmother's funeral about eight years ago, and that was the only time I'd seen him since I entered adulthood. I didn't know him that well, so I didn't have a strong reaction to the news. Honestly, my thoughts have been more on my mother since finding out. The good thing is that, even though I haven't seen him in nearly a decade, he had actually been in contact with my mother semi-regularly the last year or so. She had actually spoken to him the week before, and she's glad she got to tell him she loved him when she did. Not everyone is that lucky.

On a more upbeat note, I did get a nice digital camera, and managed to take some pictures with it. They're not the best quality (still haven't sat down with it to find out what it's capable of), but they'll do. For instance, here are two of my niece and nephew.



My niece in a rare calm moment. (Mit Pooh!)



My niece turning around to push her brother out of her picture. She is such a spotlight hog.

The New Year was spent in the company of EF, who flew down on Friday night. We cabbed back to my place, did the gift exchange (no, that's not a euphemism), had a delicious late dinner at Afterwords, then basically came back and crashed. We slept in on New Year's eve, grabbing a late lunch, then some relaxing before we decide to go the Black Cat for their New Year's Eve Ball. You know, in all of my years of living in the D.C. area, I've never been to the NYE celebration featuring Peaches O'Dell and Her Orchestra at the Black Cat. And, this year was no different.

See, what ha' happened was, we went, and we bought tickets, but it was early.

Me: She's doing four sets, plus there's some DJ action on the backstage. Since it's early, why don't we get a drink first?
EF: Okay.

So we went to the Red Room, got ourselves a couple of drinks, and soon after a couple of stools. And, well, we just drank and had a good time. It was great to be there, since I haven't been there since my birthday celebration back in September. And EF and I were having such a good time that going to check out the music seemed unnecessary.

Here are some photos of the evening (linked instead of put into the post for space purposes):

EF at the bar.
People in costume!
Bunnyhead!
Gingerbread! (Notice the bunny ears in the frame. Bunnyhead got all up in my grill.)

At some point, we decided to pack it in. While settling up, I offered one last chance to justify the ticket purchase, but I think we were a bit too to' up, and the fresh air was more inviting. So we left.



From the walk home. Fortunately, even in her inebriated state, EF was able to talk me out of Yum's. However, she did not deter me from fresh donuts at 7-11. Success!

And that is that. Happy New Year, bitches.