A looooooooooong-overdue update.

Good Lord. Two months without any posts, and you people are still here?

Sorry about that. I got kinda busy around late October, and lost my will to blog after that whole November 2 nastiness. But I’m here again, and will be posting again regularly as time permits (more on that to follow).

So. Cards phoned in the World Series. I turned 25 amid chicken shawarma and metropolitans, all of which was yummy. Stood in line for an hour and a half at the polling place (because they split the book A-K and L-Z and 2/3 of the precinct is L-Z; some reports from later in the day had the L-Z line at 4 hours long) so that STL could go 82% for Kerry. Wailed; gnashed teeth; explored jobs in Canada and New Zealand but decided ultimately to stick around and cause tremendous grief for the Republicans by living well despite their best efforts (neener!).

Worked. Worked. Worked. Took a teensy bit of vacation time scattered across November and December (a day here, a day there).

Brought a now-departed-for-Florida roommate to Thanksgiving with the fam. Had lovely brined ‘n’ smoked turkey and lots of other delish fare; had the fam share embarrassing stories about me simply because I brought a guest.

Went with roommate DD to his old haunts in Wisconsin, with a stop at IKEA in Chicago the day after T’giving en route. Went to a Packers game, too. Got a 15-foot Christmas tree and loaded it up for the drive back.

Um, worked more.

Met this boy through a particular well-known site known more for hook-ups (and attempts thereat) and drama than for stable relationships. Have dated him regularly since, and am really quite smitten with the lad. (More details on him in a future post, once I determine how much he wants revealed on here.)

Got clothes, iPod (from self, a 40-gigger), megahuge hard drive (400GB, which is now in a fresh-built-from-old-parts Samba server), and other interesting things for Christmas. Brought R* to the family Christmas dinner; had roast duck and other lovely delights. No stories, as R* had already heard many of them; instead R* and I spec’d out his new PC.

Went to a NYE party with the new boy, who really needs an acro- or pseudonym, at the house of one of his friends. Had our first — well, not really an argument per se, but definitely at least a disagreement — between dinner (Arcelia’s, yum!) and the party itself, but managed to pull ourselves together in time for the party. Brought a bottle of champagne like everybody else (at midnight, there were 15 people and 12 bottles of champagne). Ate, drank, made merry on an unseasonably warm night. Sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at midnight while accompanied by the host’s piano and PIPE ORGAN; it was definitely the most ostentatious rendition of that beloved song I’ve ever heard. Kissed aforementioned boy. Drank, drank, drank. Socialized with the FATTEST pugs I have ever met (one laid down and resembled a lozenge). Went home, made out with boy some, went to sleep.

Worked lots ever since. Have more plans with the boy this weekend.

I’m still in Soulard, still editing Wikipedia (and you can too!), still driving my beloved Mini, still bitching about my users to anybody who’ll hear me, still half-heartedly looking for a new job, still lifting weights, still tinkering with interesting foods, and still tinkering in general.

I’m going to follow this post with one containing R*’s Trini chicken curry recipe, which is quite good, and for which he has given me permission to post. Of course, I’m going to be posting my own slightly-modified version…