Oooh. i've officially been blog-smacked. many thanks to brents and xeryl for the smack to the head. the truth is, my life right now is hectic, more so than usual, which, let's be honest, isn't saying all that much. i'll give a quick rundown of my recent, and not so recent, activities.

For starters, Christmas was a blast. lots of good things, fewer bad things than usual. all in all, i'd have to say that it was one of my most favorite Christmases home ever. first went to the potter home 2.0, where there was ample chill time, although we never really sat around for big chunks of time in front of the TV. played frisbee golf, which, really, i was much worse than i should have been. nelle was there, and she was totally the whole team. which was me and her. the game ended in pouring rain, which was fun. also, freezing cold.

Got a chance to hang out with one of my favorite people, a rather diminutive chap named andrew. i was sort of a bastard and didn't call him or email him for a while, like a year and a half, during which time, for other reasons, his life sucked a lot. so that acted upon my bastardliness in an exponential fashion, and i'm surprised he didn't curse at me a lot more. we walked and talked and chilled, and we are once again good friends.

Had lots of good late-night conversations with brent in our dungeon of a room, which was also great.

Got to hang out with mr. and mrs. cami and deidre potter also, for the first time since their wedding, since they weren't able to make it to tak this summer. it was really great to see them be all married, to see deidre crack the whip on him. it was also great to hang out with nelle, who, at that point, i hadn't seen in three days. we all went bowling, i lost, but we had a lot of fun, except for the part that, due to a miscommunication, we each had to pay what we thought we would have to pay collectively. and we're all pretty money-grubbing people, so it wasn't pretty.
Christmas day was a lot of fun, with the giving and receiving of present, which was as it should be. unfortunately, we've gotten out of the practice of stringing up lights all over creation, though. i think since we're all home for Christmas on vacation, we keep putting it off. i hold myself partially responsible.

A few days after Christmas, i flew to georgia to hang out at the pettit ranch on a mountain. if i've ever been to georgia, i was too young to care or remember. it was actually really cool. they live on this mountain ridge that goes for like 1,000 miles or something. i really liked the space, the feel of the air, the different kind of nature. one of the highlights from my time in georgia was when we were on a hike. there's these crazy vines there that attach themselves up into the branches of big trees, and hang down 20 or 25 feet to the ground, where they are rooted. a little sawing action on the bottom, and you've got a great swing! the best one was partway down a gully, and at the apex of the swing we were about 30 feet above the ground. thrilling.

Came back through portland, and got to see cami and dre's apartment, which i'd heard about, and i got to see their cat in a non-terrified state, unlike when she was at the parents house with the dog. i was only in portland for 2 full days, a saturday and sunday, but i managed to hang out with a lot, though not all, of my friends. i'd like to thank tre and kelly for that, who were considerate enough to plan their engagement and party around my presence in america, causing everyone to be gathered in one place for maximum friendage. flew out to japan on monday, which was also the 8th, which was also me and nelle's 1-year dativersary. it was a short day, though, since it turned the 9th sometime in the early afternoon. by happenstance, seriously, me and nelle landed in narita on the same day, which, if you have been paying careful attention to detail, you will realize we did last year as well. i landed about an hour and a half ahead of her, so i de-planed, and then sat around, not going through customs or immigration, and watched what i figured (correctly) was her plane land and taxi in, then once i figured out what gate her plane was heading to, i ran across the wing to meet her at her gate. this time it had been 4 days since i'd seen her.

Then i went home. everything was still standing, nobody had stolen my car or broken into my apartment (i assume), the youth ministry was still around, and the kids still seem to like me, so all's well. i am planning madly for a retreat in february, and in fact i just stayed up till 4 in the morning making a 5-minute advertisement video for CAJ chapel, which, in spite of it's best efforts not to be shown, did, at the last possible moment, work out. it wasn't saving, then it wasn't exporting, then the sound wasnt' working...etc. and watching it in chapel with all the kids was actually my first time to see that particular copy all the way through, so i was praying that nothing had gone wrong in the middle without me knowing about it. i was a stress case. and now i smell really bad. you know how when you're stressed your BO is worse? well, mine is. a lot. and even though i've already had two showers this week, i'm heading home now to take a third. the funny thing is, seriously, all last week i took 2: one on monday and then one on sunday. that's one thing i like about winter; you just don't smell as bad. except for now.