december tidings (a.k.a. rushed ramblings)

December is probably my most frustrating and exhilirating month of the year. I've got my birthday, my brother's and grandfather's birthdays, Christmas, New Year's, and this time, the meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology, my brother's graduation and mother's annual holiday shopping stay all in one month.

My birthday was lovely -- commencing with a great French dinner in Palo Alto with Hannah, I went ice skating at the Embarcadero Center (starting off with Chevy's margaritas doesn't hurt), went for Moroccan food at Aziza (fantastic "specialty cocktails"), did some shopping, and some very foolish people gave me some very nice gifts. Ever practical, the gift from my family was a new microwave.

My apartment is about 60% decorated for Christmas. The tree is nearly done but there are some lights yet to be put up...I love having my apartment filled with colored lights and candlelight and warm scents of nutmeg and pine.

Last night I would have done more decorating but after consuming pizza and pinot grigio at Zena's two-story suite at the Marriott, I ambled to my favorite scuzzy MUNI stop at 5th and Market, waiting for the #27. We let the first bus go by when one of the first passengers to board discovered a large pool of sticky blood at the back of the bus. Yum. I then got caught in a remarkable conversation with one of my stop-mates, a diminutive looks-older-than-she-is "half-Irish, half-Scotch" "forensics student" who bore a shopping bag with what appeared to be a stuffed whale inside, tongue lolling. I'd try to describe her further but I'm afraid it'd end up reading like a Zagat review, peppered with incredible phrases bounded by quotation marks. Suffice it to say, "Jenny" the "one-time rock n' roll singer" who "knows Keith Richards" but also "taught Anthropology" and now "can't keep a retail job" but finds ways to "travel to all the Ren Fairs" (I assume she means Renaissance?) kept me "enthralled" all the way to Sutter and Leavenworth. "We'll meet again, I'm sure."

Tonight I am very much looking forward to meeting up with Susy (it's been a year and a week, I'm afraid) for dinner. I was so surprised to get her email on my birthday that I accidentally swallowed my gum. Not only am I looking forward to catching up with her, but I can't wait to see how her Edwardian has shaped up in the last year.