Evil Black Hole

I have managed to finally escape from the black hole that swallowed me up in the fall. I will not bore you all with the details of the epic battle. So now I will move on to catching up. Happy very belated b-days to Jo and Kelly (and I forgot when some other b-days take place so maybe I should just say Happy Birthday to all)!
And Congratulations to Jo on passing her boards!
And Happy Halloween (those are some adorable pictures of Elena, Ephraim, and Salome? Yes, Jo and Cindy you are both adorable too)!
And Congratulations Cindy on her new place!
And Happy Thanksgiving!
And Merry Christmas!
And Happy New Year!
And Happy Valentine's Day!
And... am I caught up now? Have I forgotten anything?
I am just the same. I lead a fairly boring life. I have been to a boat load of shows. Halloween I saw Medeski, Martin, and Wood. That was a good one. I loved the opening band Sharon Jones and the Daptones.
I've seen Elvis Costello an insane number of times since I've been in NY. The last show I was at was Grey Boy before the end of the year. So it's been a while.
Ummm...
I'm taking classes at NYU a couple of times each week. I'm working for a certificate in editing so I can try to supplement my teeny tiny paycheck with some freelance copyediting.
Do any of you remember my high school exchange partner Conny? She and her boyfriend Jens came to visit late last year. Brian and I had met him when we visited her in Germany in 2000. When she wrote to tell me she was planning a trip out here she caught me up by writing, "Yes, I am still with Jens. No, we are not married. Yes, we are living together. No, we have no children. Yes, we have one cute smart cat." So I wrote her back the same thing except I have two cute smart cats. We are pretty much on the exact same page in life with everything. It was nice having them here. Jens and Brian are also very alike and get along great.
I wish I could have seen you all during Christmas. Obviously I didn't make it back this year. I thought it was best to stay here. Brian's dad had been in and out of the hospital a lot. He went in for the last time on the 23rd and passed away on the 28th. We were all with him all day that day. So that was my New Year celebration. Two wakes each on the 31st and 1st and then the funeral and 'party' (what do you call it. It sure felt like a party). I've never been through an Irish Catholic funeral. He had a full Mass etc. Funny thing is Roger wasn't even Catholic! :)
The first wake alone lasted two hours and there were around 300 people who came through. Brian's family is very huge, very social, and have all been in the same county for generations so pretty much the whole county filtered through during those days.
Ok... more uplifting news... I lead a pretty boring life so I'm having a little trouble. See this is why I should just log on a couple of times a year. Then I may have something to say. I am home sick today. :(
So I am bored and playing with my new computer. My old one completely died. I was on the phone with tech support (aka my brother) for about a week switching out memory cards, hard drives, jumper cables, etc until he finally broke the news that I needed a new one.
I am in love with this little thing. I got an HP slimline. The cpu is adorable. It's about 4.5x9.5x12 and whisper quiet. It also came with the new Windows Vista operating system so the geek in me is happy.
The geek in me has also been out a bit going to book readings. I love being able to hear authors read their own work. I'm heading to another one on Friday if I can make it in time after work, Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart (sp?). On Monday I'm going to see Thomas Goltz/ Assassinating Shakespeare. I worked with him on his last book Georgia Diary but have never met him face to face.

I think this thing is getting out-of-control long so I am going to leave now. Bye!