I’ve just realised that it’s been quite some time since I last updated you lovely folks on what’s been happening around here. I’m sure most of you have been having your own Christmas and holiday celebrations, and I hope that wherever you are/were you had a relaxing time.

My Christmas was quite surreal. I think that, for me, Christmas consists of many elements that make up the holiday experience and  without some or all of those things then it’s impossible to really feel ‘Christmassy’. This year was kinda like that. For a start, it’s always nice to open a present on Christmas day which didn’t happen to me this year. Apart from money, this year my two presents were a bottle of wine from one of our drivers, and a few small little things that Valerie gave me before leaving for France (although one of those was tickets to Jersey Boys - most awesome musical ever!).

Another important thing for Christmas is to be with friends and family. Although I was with the few people that were still there at Christmas at my accommodation, it wasn’t really close friends. More, people I know and hang out with from time to time. Actually, many of the people I spent Christmas with were people I met for the first time. My friend Robert is with me for the holidays but he’s been missing his family so we both felt a little weird this year.

On Christmas eve we had our Christmas dinner (apparently in France and Korea it’s traditional to have the meal on the 24th) which was chicken soup prepared by Sue, and after some sort of eggplant with garlic (not so tasty in my opinion). We had a small bit of chicken instead of turkey and then strawberries and chocolate for dessert, so not the traditional Christmas meal we all love. Still, I enjoyed it and it’s always worth trying new things, if for no other reason than to appreciate what you’re used to.

Afterwards, we headed out to Union Square for some photos and went to a bar with a group a nice Brazilian girls who’d asked us to take a photo for them. It was definitely a strange Christmas, and sad in a way that many people in America just try to get Christmas over with. It’s certainly not the same without family and being at home, as much as I hate to admit it. In saying that, I’d probably have been bored at home too.

Christmas Day me and Bob went to Fisherman’s Wharf on the cable car (he’s a tourist) to get a hot bowl of clam chowder. Have to say, it was a marvelous alternative for a cold Christmas Day. Didn’t do much else that day, just chilled out and watched Blade Runner (which really isn’t that good!).

So now it’s coming up to New Year, and my other friend Caroline is here in SF to visit. All three of us are crammed into my wee room, technically breaking the residency rules at my place. In a few days I’m moving too so they’re coming with me. Tomorrow night for new years we’re going to a friends apartment for a party as the discos and parties at the clubs are all $50+ just to get in. This way we can have fun for cheaper, get some good food, wine and take it easy. The guy’s apartment is on top of Russian Hill which means you can see the whole bay from his window, so we’ll see the waterfall of fireworks on the Golden Gate Bridge. I think the plan is to have the party of his roof and then head to the Ferry Building for the midnight countdown - it seems to be the place where a few hundred thousand gather.

My biggest news is that I have managed to get a few days off work for the start of January, and I’ve found some cheap flights to Honolulu so *fingers crossed* I’ll be joining Valerie there for a few days. Pretty short, but I need to go. I simply must! Still very tentative at the moment and extremely last minute but I’ll get something sorted.

Sorry for the lack of photos recently too, I have some from Christmas which I’ll try to find and load up on Flickr. Hope everyone has been having fun, see y’all later.

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