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Xmas passed

2010-12-28 -

Xmas is now officially over. While taking our dogs for a hike, I noticed yesterday that people hiking their own dogs are still especially friendly one or two days after the holiday. People said hello to us that never say hello. And they meant it. My theory is they either haven't tired of their presents yet or their undesirable holiday guests have finally gone back home. I'm going to track how long they stay friendly.

It was a nice holiday, although I missed seeing my family, and I missed my mother a lot. She would've been having a bday yesterday. On Xmas, I was playing a crazy Xmas song for my husband that my mother used to play for us every year , and joking to him about it - then I turned a little reflective. He thought he was consoling me over that, but then it turned into me crying over anything else that came to mind - the most of which was the news I got on Xmas morning about some old friends.

I used to hang out with this large group of friends and over the years we moved away, lost touch, drifted apart, etc. One of my friends, Matt, seemed like he was doing ok the last time we spoke. He had been a GQ model at a young age and had a bright future but a pretty bad drug habit also. I found out a while back that he had hung himself in his sister's basement which I thought was a really shocking thing for him to do. He never seemed like someone who would do that. Fast forward a few days ago and I hear from one of our friends in that group, out of the blue. He was asking me about a girl we knew and if I had heard from her. I hadn't, and asked him about some other friends of ours too, like our one friend Martin, that I hadn't been able to get in touch with at all over the years. He was a good friend of mine who I lost touch with like so many other people. He wrote me back on Xmas morning that both Martin and Matt were killed a few years ago - Matt was hung in a motel bathroom and Martin was hung in his hometown at an arboretum. I had thought all these years that Matt was a suicide. It turns out they were killed by some Cubans from Miami - and I have no idea why it happened, although I have a guess or two.

So I have to hand it to my husband for not so much as blinking while I processed it like a sanitarium inmate. It went something like this:

Oh man, watch this video! My mother tortured us with this music every Xmas. This song is called "Come on Ring those Bells". Hahaha! Look at Evie, she had winged back hair! Can you imagine having to hear this every year? Funny, huh? Is she Danish? Now you know why I hate decorating a Xmas tree. Ok have you heard 'This Christmas' by Donny Hathaway ? No? Really, because they play it every year around this time. I kind of like it, you want to hear it? It's cute, right? Ding, DIng, Ding, Ding! Ohh, I miss my mom. I miss....(boo hoo)...this was her favorite holiday! This and Easter! (boo hoo hoo)...and my friend Matt didn't commit suicide in his sister's basement, him and my my friend Martin were hung by dog chains by Cubans from Miami. Everything is sad!"

When I was done, he offered me some food and another hug and we finished the day off just fine.

About that Nonprofit job I applied to....

I got the position. I am now working there. I did a week training in San Francisco and I'm still training. It's not a job for sissies, you understand. My supervisor said it could take a year for me to learn all I need to know. Now that's a job. I did notice the distinct differences between Los Angeles and San Francisco while staying there for so long. For one, they conserve a lot more energy. I counted three bikes parked in the front area, even when it rained, which is most of the time. When it rains in LA, people just drive a little slower. They asked me how far it was for me to travel to work in LA. I told them 3 miles which in LA time, could equal 15 minutes or 45 minutes. For me it's 15. They were curious about it.

"So - you could take a bike to work then?"

"I could - but I wouldn't. It's not like it is here."

"Or you could walk. Yeah you should walk to work!"

"Nope I shouldn't. It's three miles of freeway. Not interested."

My supervisor asked me to come up with some fun facts about myself for a bio he was going to be compiling about me. I had no idea what that was about, but I did what he said. I wrote some stuff about how one of my dogs wets the bed, and how I turned down a job at the Matchmaker just prior to this job because no great American ever became great by matching up lonely people in Los Angeles. I was horrified to find out that my entire LA office made it into a collage with these fun facts and my photo and sent it out to the entire company nation wide. Welcome! I'm just thankful I didn't include the fun fact about my dead father communicating with me through Elton John's music.

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