my dorky/compulsive side is working on a list of my favorite things of last year. i imagine they’ll line up more or less with the other losers who feel the same need, but still, for posterity, you know? i don’t know about you, but i don’t really get a sense of how long a year is until i flip through all my old ticket stubs and suddenly recall things that seem like years ago and were really just april.

i was going to hold off on posting until i finished those too, but then i thought i should probably get down something on the past two weeks of my life before i forget. again, posterity, you know? my memory is pretty crappy unless i relate things to other people, even if they are cyber people. so this will be more for me than anything, but you’re welcome to see what i’ve been up to if you want.

some interesting things that happened over what seemed like a very long two weeks, in a list form just like i usually say i’m not a lazy enough writer to use:

— went to a minor league hockey game with my dad (go aeros?). caught a tennis ball thrown from the ice with one hand, but still didn’t win anything. thanks for nothing, #3.

— had ‘real texas barbeque’ before the game, and found it not quite as good as the texas barbeque stand in downtown LA we love (who catered our graduation party, even). thanks for nothing, texas.

— got to see my excellent friend virginia in houston all the way from baltimore. found the city on a saturday more or less boring and ended up making fun of people we walked past in a mall.

— had to pay 25 bucks to get home from the airport because i was the first one back into town and didn’t bother looking up if the metro rails would be running that late. vowed never to do that again. one of my fellow shuttle van riders lived right across the street and went to my school. isn’t that weird?

— waited for an hour to pull into the airport to pick up dominic. safety is such a pain in the ass sometimes. good thing he’s worth it.

— drank, played poker. drank more. stayed up late, slept in late.

— drank way too much new year’s eve. split my lip when i ran into mike face first. threw up everything i’d eaten in 2003. passed out utterly after crawling from the bathroom to our friend’s bedroom floor, but not before following someone’s advice that i should probably take my shirt off first. they seemed to have a point at the time.

— made a big batch of chili new year’s day, had a great time watching the rose bowl with my friends and eating and not drinking at all and handing out christmas presents.

— drove josh to the airport to see him off for his year or more trip around the world. that sure was a weird feeling. good luck buddy, we’ll miss the shit out of you.

— urged our friend to ask a girl at one of my favorite LA bars, the roost, if she was straight or not in exchange for six dollars. she seemed too beautiful to possibly be interested in any sort of male. turned out we were wrong. hopefully i’ll see her around there again someday.

— saw taxi driver on the big screen at the new beverly. that movie is so cool.

— spent over an hour getting into the airport to pick up justin. safety still overrated. urged friend this time to ask if two girls at in-n-out were of age or not. once again, they checked out. new years resolution: stop assuming there is an impenetrable barrier around any girl i’m attracted to.

— had to buy a new plunger because the old one didn’t have enough suction power. we’ll leave the details out of this one.

— oddly though, in the elevator on the way back, one of my fellow tennants was carrying what was easily 50 rolls of toilet paper. seriously, he had one of those huge 20 packs under his arm, and was carrying full plastic bags in each hand. i thought the bags at least were groceries at first, but nope — aaaaaall toilet paper.

— said goodbye last night to dom, the only guy around whom i feel the need to watch the elimidate/5th wheel back-to-back combo, after enjoying his company all week. i love that man.

now it’s back to the grind for a while, looks like. although it won’t be so bad once i remember how to wake up at 7:30 instead of noon.