Home for the Holidays...

Hola! So, I went Home for the Holidays. Actually, it was the first major holiday I've attended with my family in six years. It was pretty decent. The image above is looking out from my parent's back porch in Northern Wisconsin (Bayfield if anyone knows it). I realized how much of a "City-Boy" I've become since moving to Minneapolis. The silence kept me awake! I couldn't believe it. I'm used to hearing sirens, helicopters, traffic... Noise of people around. I walked outside and the silence was almost overwhelming. I had forgotten how different it is up there. OH! The STARS!!! Wow! I couldn't believe how many stars I could see at night! The moon was very bright, but I could still see all the stars! In the city it's pretty easy to pick out the constellations because there aren't so many stars visible, but back home I could see so many stars that I had a hard time even finding "Orion" or "The Big Dipper." It's wierd.
I went to church with my family (Twice in one day) and I'm mildly surprised I didn't burst into flames when I walked in. I didn't, but it sure got 'hot' a couple times in there. Anywho, it was nice to see people I grew up with. I saw a couple people I haven't seen since I left for college in 1994, so it was nice to catch up a bit on what's going on with them. I really don't know what my family has told them about my life now, so I'm always cautious telling them how things are going with me. Not so sure my parents would be gossiping about how "Wonderful" my boyfriends are in their church meetings, or about how proud they are that their alcoholic son is seeking help and changing his career at the same time. You know what I mean? My parents are pretty strict Baptist (Great Lakes Baptist, closer to Southern Baptist than Bible Baptist I guess) and just don't talk much about things like this.
I love my family, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be who I am without them and I'm very grateful for them. They've put up with a lot from me over the past few years. My dark-humor is really coming out tonight though, so I apologize if I gave a bad impression of them. It's a pretty tenuous relationship I have with them. It's a struggle between Tolerance and Acceptance for all of us.
My job's been interesting lately. We had two people quit or voluntarily accept a dismissal, two people have been on vacation, and my supervisor's wife just had a baby, so he's not been around much this week. Out of a team of 10 people, that's a HUGE loss when we're trying to complete our daily tasks. It's actually been kinda fun though. I like to push myself just to see how much I can get done in a day. Fifteen Months ago I would probably have walked out if it came to this, but today I am proud of how much I was able to get done.
Oh! I applied for another job tonight... Keep your fingers crossed for me, I haven't been getting much response from previous postings.
Oh. I had a really disturbing 'using dream' last night.... Kinda threw me for a loop since I haven't had one in a while and never one this realistic. In the dream I was drunk off my a**, trying to 'cruise' a cutie in a bathroom at a bar. What made this one so realistic was that I could feel the cold tile as I put my forehead against the wall to prop myself up (a usual stance for me), the room was spinning and nobody would talk to me once they figured out how drunk I was. Really brought back some memories. Ah, wasn't life glamorous back then? WE THINK NOT.

Ok. I'll sign off with that for now. Hope everyone had a great holiday, and will have a nice New Year's Eve on Sunday.

Gratefully,
JD