Today was my penultimate day at Microsoft so I decided to clean up as many of my things as I could to make tomorrow less stressful. The day had already been horribly marred by the millions of tiny things I need to finish up at work, my worries over Julian’s arrival on Thursday and the dreadful weather we’ve been having (snow causing huge traffic problems all over Seattle and the surrounding areas) so it was nice to take a break from that for a moment. For the entire year, I had been keeping an empty “Blackblack” gum jar on my desk which I filled with the non-quarter change I got from the cafe every day at lunch (the quarters I took home to use for laundry.) Basically, it was completely full of nickels and dimes, probably upwards of $15 or $20. Rather than lugging that home with me (as it was quite heavy) I decided to put it to better use. I took it with me to the kitchen and proceeded to feed it to the vending machine in exchange for candy bars. Now, as one might imagine, feeding a vending machine $15 worth of nickels and dimes is a pretty lengthy task, so by the time I’d put about $8 I was getting some really funny looks from people. I felt it was time to move on, so I went down to the second floor and did the same thing there until I ran out of change. I ended up with an armful of candy bars which I can now share with my buddies when they come over, and I didn’t have to lug 10 pounds worth of change home.

I couldn’t have possibly loved you more. No dog could have ever asked for a more perfect life than you lived.

I learned something last night that I hadn’t expected. I’d agreed to go pick up my buddies Bill & Robbyn from the airport after they returned from their Christmas holiday with their families in California. They were coming in fairly late, around 9:30ish, so I figured the Seattle traffic would have cleared out enough that it wouldn’t be too stressful driving. For the most part, Seattle was just fine. I-5 South was clear enough that I never had to drop below the speed limit (which is nearly unheard of during the day.) When I took the Sea-Tac exit, the whole experience became one akin to driving home from Microsoft during rush hour when the 520 bridge is closed. The traffic was backed up for a mile and a half outside the airport entrance, and only later did I discover it was because the construction was causing all the cars to merge into one lane up ahead, and to top that off there had been an accident somewhere closer to the airport. *sigh* I hadn’t really considered that this being the day after New Year’s, everyone would be coming back or going home, and the time of night wouldn’t make a bit of difference. By the time I reached Robbyn, an hour and a half had passed and Bill still hadn’t gotten their luggage yet. It was already past midnight so I drove Robbyn back to Seattle so she could get her car to go get Bill after he found the luggage.

Needless to say, I am *extremely* tired today.

So the holidays have come and gone without much incident. My downstairs neighbors opted not to go back to Michigan for Christmas so we had dinner together on Xmas Eve and Day. On the Eve, they took me out to Benihana for hibachi (I had calamari) and on the Day we went to Denny’s. We arrived a bit earlier than the rush, were able to get a table, but it still took an hour for our food to arrive because they were so swamped. Christian and Miyuki came along with me to Ikea so I could get some new furniture for the apartment (end tables, futon frame, bookshelves) so I spent an entire day putting those together. They didn’t have any black/brown TV stands which I presume is because everyone got a TV for Christmas, so Jules and I will have to pick one of those up when he’s here in January. Also a coffee table. And lots of household items…

Christian, Miyuki and Tony came over for New Year’s Eve and we watched some movies, had some drinks, and played a few games. The following day we went back to Ikea so I could return a shelf insert that was the wrong color and they could get a new shelf.

I’m really having trouble focusing on anything that doesn’t involve dreaming about being with Julian again. There’s nothing that matters more to me than being with him. Every time I go into Target and look at soap dispensers and toothbrush holders I fantasize about shopping for those items with him… *sigh* Only two more weeks! Soooo much to do between now and then. I’ll post an update on the job situation once I know more.