Back in the saddle again… January 8, 2008

I’ve had the Gene Autry song stuck in my head for a solid 24 hours–I guess my unconscious feels like I’m ready to get back in the saddle, eh? (Despite my feelings of apprehension and impending doom! For the whole of my last 24 hours in Portland, I could hardly say anything but “Don’t make me go back there! To the place where I feel fat and ugly and STUPID–NOOOOOOOO!!!” As we already know, I care a great deal for hyperbole, but you get my point.) Anyway, I’m back, and I’ve gotta say, so far, so good. Raul and Jorge were both excited to see me (and I them), it was super nice to sleep in my bed, we now have REAL internet in the apartment (not unpredictable stolen internet–which means, hurray!, free calls to the US! everybody Skype!), and it’s pretty great to see all of my peers again. I fear that this week is going to be intense (we have a one-week course on Strategy and Competition, and there’s even a final for it, on SATURDAY), but I’m excited to dig in with my new (awesome!) team, so at least there’s some fun to be had, right?

So, when I last wrote, I was in the middle of some serious terror. Finals were pretty freaking terrible, I have to say, and I’m pretty worried about how my accounting final went (that subject is the devil). By the time I got to the end of the week, I felt like I couldn’t possibly absorb any more information, any more Spanish, or any more school. So vacation arrived just in time. And it was AWESOME! We all know how much I LOVE Portland, and man, I’m more convinced than ever that that is a city where I want to live someday. (Maybe this summer? Let’s see what happens…)

Given that I got a camera for Christmas, how ’bout a (very incomplete) highlight reel, in pictures?

Yes, friends, that would be my beach house. Also know as My Very Favoritest Place Ever Created in the History of Man. 2008 is the Beach House’s 50th year in my family–whew!

I think this is the only time I saw a hint of sun while there. But that’s what life looks like, standing on the porch at the beach house. My ma and pa and I went for a couple of days after Christmas, just to hang out and recharge our batteries. ‘Twas awesome.

Isn’t my momma cute? She made me take a walk (I mean, uh, we went for a walk–of course I wanted to stop reading my book and get up off my a** to take a walk on a cold and pebbly beach… right…) for the only 30 minutes it stopped raining (or snowing!) while we were there.  I kid, I kid, it was great.

Though this picture doesn’t look like much, it’s actually a total novelty. There’s no TV at the beach house (and there never will be!!) so my ma and I watched a movie (Clue!) on my laptop. Good times. And yes, that’s an irritated look on her face. She doesn’t love to have her picture taken, especially when she’s watching one of her favorite movies…

Moving away from the beach house, this would be my dad on Christmas morn. (I know, I’m retarded and can’t figure out how to rotate the damn photo. Deal.) My brother and I inadvertently bought my dad 2 right slippers, of 2 different sizes, and 2 different colors. We rock. Speaking of Ricky…

I suspect he wasn’t sober when he took this picture. We drank a lot of beer. (Portland is, after all, “Beervana,” and my brilliant uncle Harry had the house ridiculously stocked with Christmas beers from all of the kickass local breweries. It was awesome.) Ricky and I had an absolutely tremendous visit, including a couple of tipsy debates about the existence of god (ending always with a great big “no, you’re MY favorite person!” hug–that kind of made me tear up, not gonna lie), great talks about his future, and we even managed to fill out an online application for him to transfer to SFSU next fall as an Environmental Science major. I think Ricky would be absolutely awesome at that.

I got to spend a ton of time with Micah, and a couple of major highlights for the trip were his Christmas Eve potluck, where Ricky and Sean got to play some music together, I got to talk to Micah’s sister Tori about books for a while, and the night ended with the guys from Micah’s band circling around the piano and singing Christmas carols in 4 part harmony. Those guys rock. Another awesome highlight (that I don’t have photos of, ’cause it was before I got my camera) was Pat coming to town for a day, finally meeting my folks, and then treating me, Ricky, Micah, and Sean to a killer lunch in an awesome pub. I was pretty excited to spend an afternoon with so many of my favorite guys, and it was an amazing way to start my week.

Mara and Danny on NYE, with their 3:00 cava–it was midnight in BCN, so we had to toast! Nothing like spending the holiday with family (I’m pretty much officially ready to start calling Mara my sister, now that we’ve surpassed 25 years of friendship, and we love each other more than ever). We had a great time, and Mara and Danny could not possibly be better hosts. I ended up staying 2 nights with them instead of one, because they’re just that awesome.

Okay, I know you’re sad, but that’s the end of my photos–sorry! Sadly, I don’t have any pictures of all of my incredible family, but it was great to catch up with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmother, and have real, actual, quality time. We did lots of cool, Portland-y stuff together, and Liz and Rick treated me to a trip to Powell’s on my penultimate day in town, another one of my favorite places on earth, and now I have a t-shirt to prove it!  Also, it was great to see Dennis, who is now about to kick in to Dennis-Gear and help me find an internship in Portland for the summer–given how much we just learned I love my beach house, nothing would please me more than to be close to that awesome place for the summer, and sneak away for a weekend or two.

Anyway, I’ll bring my Christmas Vacation LoveFest to a close here, and bring my sighing, sleepy self back to reality.

At least I start this term super well rested, stupidly well fed (um, yeah, pretty sure I ate my weight in cookies while I was there–damn you spritz cookies! damn yoooooou!…..ahem…), and more or less mentally recovered. (I re-read Jane Eyre, always a favorite, and also, a BIG recommendation to all you folks, I read The Road, by Cormac McCarthy–holy crap, that’s a stunning piece of literature. Seriously. Both very good things for mental recovery.)

But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll be back to my usual “business school is hard!” self by the next entry…