I’m not religious. My good friends know not to bring it up as a topic of conversation. I admit I do, for my benefit, bring it up when I meet someone who seems really into me, but I am ambivalent and/or not that interested in them. Needless to say, I have strong views on the topic. I’m not going to dive into that one today, but I will in future podcasts/writings/etc.

I bring this up because of the passing of “Christmas”, or as I like to call it, “XMAS”. Yes, I do celebrate the holiday, but the commercial side of the holiday. Plus it is a friggin’ federal holiday after all. It’s more about tradition for me.

Because I was (and still am) trapped in the jobless category - and I hadn’t heard back from my second interviews yet - I decided to drive home to Massachusetts for XMAS. After my recent Miami flights there was no way I was stepping foot in an airport.

I got home to my mom and dad’s house on Wednesday and relaxed with the fam for a while. Then I made plans to go up to PTown to visit some friends on Friday.

While in PTown I stayed with Brad and Michael, the guys who, at the beginning of the summer, asked if I was interested in moving to London and enter into a three-way relationship.

Even though I decided against moving with them I didn’t have any reservations in staying with them. I have grown to really appreciate and respect them and always love their company. We work well together and we always have fun. I ended up spending two nights with them instead of the intended one.
While I was in PTown I got to visit with my friends Dion and Brennan which was wonderful. I also had drama with one of my exes. Not as much fun! Don’t you get pissed when people are petty and lie about the stupidest things and then try to cover it up? Well, I am. It’s childish, aggravating, and totally turns me off. Enough said about that…

On XMAS eve morning I said my goodbyes to Brad and Michael (and their sweetheart friend Karl who was also staying with them) and drove back to my parents’ house. My family always has a big celebration on XMAS eve and then relaxes and eats leftovers on XMAS day. And, of course, we traditionally go and see an XMAS day movie.

This year we had a small crowd, but had big fun. My sister had her “boyfriend” over - oooooohhhh - and her ferret was running around. It was friggin’ adorable. As usual, Shauna came over and brought a table centerpiece. I don’t know how that started but she’s been doing it for like 5 years running.

Because I am dirt poor I couldn’t do much, if anything, as far as gifts go. It’s been a tough year financially for a lot of people in my family. I actually liked it because we focused more on talking, laughing, and relaxing instead of opening presents. I hope that next year I’ll be able to do more. I don’t know why being able to show my appreciation to people through gifts makes me feel good, but it does. They don’t have to be huge, but meaningful.

I’ve actually been thinking about putting more emphasis on New Year’s than XMAS from now on. You can get more gifts for people - because everything is like 80% off after XMAS day - and it’s much more widely celebrated. Plus it’s more of a non-exclusive holiday.

On XMAS day my family went up to visit my Memere at her nursing home. We stayed for a while chit-chatting and reminiscing. All I can say is Parkinson’s is a scary disease. My Memere was always the one who hosted the XMAS eve party that dozens of my family members would go to. She’d be making the turkey, running around setting the table, etc, etc. Now she can’t even hold her head up. She actually said she won’t be able to eat on her own soon. Time is precious. Youth can fade in an instant. It’s scary.

After visiting Memere we headed out to see a movie. Last year we went to see “RENT”, which was fun. This year I was SURE we were going to see “Dreamgirls“. My family had a different idea. *grrrr*

In the end I conceded and we went to see “Eragon“. It was ok. I didn’t realize it was a trilogy so when it didn’t end I was miffed. I’m just glad the guy in the lead role was hot! Blonde hair and blue eyes - you can’t go wrong! I take that back - Owen Wilson.

All in all I had a great holiday at home with my family. I left on the 27th and headed back to DC. I sat in traffic in just about every state, got to DC around 11pm, and went out for drinks with Drew. I had missed him so much! We went over to Halo and then to JRs, caught up, and eyed cute boys. As usual, I had a great time.

As most of you know, I met Drew on January 1st, 2006. It’s weird to think our entire friendship has been developed over the time I’ve had my blog. Since then he has become the best male friend I have ever had.

We both consider New Year’s to be the anniversary of our friendship and so we both agreed we needed to party our asses off. Shauna invited her friend Jenny along for what we had expected to be a wild and crazy night.

Stop 1 was at something called “The Helix Party”. Apparently it was a super-gay party at the Helix hotel in DC. I had received an evite for the party from a friend and there was a buzz that it could be good. I was skeptical based off the reviews some of my friends had given it last year.

The drinks were $9 each. And there were 5 cute guys there. OMG we got out of there as soon as we could.

Stop 2 was much better. It was at this kid Jamie’s place that I met through someone I had gone to college with.

The party - SO MUCH FUN. The drinks were free and delicious. The boys were H O T - seriously, like every hot guy in DC was there.

And there was an ice luge. Talk about scandalous! Drew and I ended up doing a shot from it and it tasted like fresh strawberries. It was probably lighter fluid or something just as toxic, but it was yummy.

Soon we came up on the 5 4 3 2 1…Happy New Year! Let’s just say I had quite a few kisses. With very hot men. ME = HAPPY MAN!

We decided to spend until just after midnight at the party and then head out to Cobalt for some dancing. Well, it seemed like it was right after midnight but was more like 1am according to the time stamp on my pictures! hahaha Thank goodness for photographic evidence!

Cobalt was a little blurry, memory wise. The true sign of a good night. I didn’t remember running into my friend Clint until I checked my camera and saw a picture of him and Drew. I didn’t remember that Drew took his shirt off at Cobalt - a very non-Drewlike thing to do - until I saw that picture as well!! HAHAHA

One story I’m sure you will all appreciate given the response to my “Sliding Glass Door” post is my fall at Cobalt.

Yes, I fell.

It wasn’t an ordinary fall, however. You see, I was dancing on a box and spinning around on a pole. It’s an ongoing joke that I have a history of working the pole, but I will be the first to admit that I love getting up on a box and dancing with a pole. I have balance, grace, and skill. I can really work it!

Not that night. I was a little too tipsy…ok, ok…drunk. I was really having fun up there and as I went to spin and grab the pole someone jumped up in front of me. I couldn’t reach the polea. Everything went into slow motion. I just felt my arms flailing as I started to fall backwards.

A gaggle of gays broke my fall. And by broke I mean I knocked like two queens down. QUEENS DOWN! QUEENS DOWN!!

One of their friends who saw the whole thing - me flailing, me falling, them being crushed - started laughing so hard he buckled over on the ground. I almost couldn’t get up I was laughing so hard. And of course, I didn’t remember any of it until the next day when I noticed about 3 different drinks stains on the back of my shirt and I had to think of how the hell I got them.

So then I laughed all over again.

After QUEENS DOWN and me running away to a different part of the dance floor, I ran into one of my friend’s and his boyfriend. None of us remember much of the “Hey! Good to see you!” However, we did stay up there until 4am when the dance floor closed. Then at some point we agreed to meet another one of our friends at Annie’s for some yummy and greasy food.

We got to Annie’s and into the line of a billion people standing out in the cold. I looked at my friend and his boyfriend and said, “we could stand in this line and freeze to death or just go home…together?” They looked at each other and did the whole, “it’s up to you…no, it’s up to you.” The boyfriend (who was also celebrating his birthday) broke the standoff with a, “I’m bored, let’s get a cab.”

And let’s just say my New Year’s started with a bang. A couple of them.