(no subject)

At the moment, an extremely handsome cat is sleeping on my desk. This has certain advantages, but it does make work a little harder.

New Year's Festivities

Now that I finally had time to put up the pictures, here's the long version of our New Year's holiday plans.

Lauren's family has a house at the South Jersey shore near Atlantic City. This town is where Philadelphia-area Main Line Jews tended to get places for the summer, so many of Lauren's friends also have a history of going. One such friend married a Brooklyn native, and he was so taken with the place that they now own their own house there. That seems a little extreme to me, but I guess that's a matter of taste.

Those friends decided to host a NYE party at their house, which is also the site of the world's least salacious hot tub. They have a one-year-old son, and another couple stayed at their house with their two-year-old daughter. Another single friend also stayed there.

We stayed at Lauren's family's house, and another friend joined us.

December 30

I left New York Tuesday night, hitching a ride with the friends who own the house. We got in at about 8:30 and stopped at the Lone Star steakhouse for dinner. The food was mostly good, except for what I ordered, of course. They dropped me off at our house, and I spent the rest of the evening opening the house and cleaning it.

New Year's Eve

Wednesday, I slept in, then walked to our friends' house, stopping for coffee—sweet, black, hot coffee—along the way. When I got there, we went to the supermarket to buy supplies for the evening and the next day or so. Dinner was to be tapas, followed by paella and a london broil prepared outside on the barbecue.

( The long story of New Year's Eve )

On the whole I had fun. I like the people, and the kids were upstairs asleep, largely a non-factor. On the other hand, while I like these people, the fact remains that they're really not my kind of people, and it's really not my kind of party. My kind of party would probably have involved loud music, a great deal of leather, and possibly stumbling home at sunrise (although I can imagine other, equally satisfying endings). But I'm trying to enjoy what I can, and I largely succeeded on NYE.

New Year's Day

This was the day of the polar bear swim.

( Ice, ice, baby )

January 2, 2004

We woke early, closed the house, and went home. The end.

Finally, for no apparent reason, here is a picture of my butt that alcestis recently took.

( Butt-Cut )