post-holiday wrap-up

i apologize. i said i would endeavour to write a blog a day during the 12 days of christmas and i fell a little short of the quota...8 days short to be exact, so here comes the post-holiday season blog. been meaning to write it for a few days but have had problems with my tailbone about the last week or so...more on my health-related humdrums later. as a result have been a bit tardy about said update. but, i digress even still....the creative juices are flowing now dear reader so buckle up.

when we last left off at the 4th day of christmas, holiday preparations got the best of me personally and professionally so my lame excuse for not keeping my word comes down to poor time management skills. things were gearing up. there were presents to buy and wrap, reservations to make, groceries shopping for post-brunch festivities and not to mention normal work schedules to work around. yes, life got busy in the lead up to the day of days and then it was here.

christmas eve day was spent leisurely cleaning, napping and ps2-playing before heading over to angie and diana's house for drinks and hearty soup-eating. tip o' the hat to leeza and her blue ribbon potato-leek with bacon soup. i was in tears over the taste...would've given me mom a run for her money. then the church goers goed and myself and gus went to buy our secret santa gifts @ shilin. half in the bag with a limit of $500NT to spend, we came home with some prize-winning guaranteed to make the receiver openly weep with joy.

soon after that, went back to my house with leesh and seb so we could exchange our presents amongst our little family. santa had already stopped by and we all scored. christmas music on and a few bottles of red later, it was 4:30am and time for visions of sugar plums to dance in our heads.

9:30 the alarm goes off. all feeling a bit fragile, we took our time getting ready until catching a taxi to the hotel for brunch. the venue this year was the grand hyatt, a 5-star hotel in the heart of taipei. one word describes this place...opulent. feeling like royalty, we all tucked in and stuffed ourselves at the trough of christmas. turkey, lamb, roast beef, sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy all of my old friends were there, plus some other friends i had yet to meet. it was a party in my mouth and everyone was invited. 3 hours later, the slow, gorging process was over and now on with copious amounts of drinking, and then more eating but in dip-form. the venue, our house. it was a glorious christmas, a balmy 23 degrees and not a cloud in the sky...a part of me longed for snow as i rolled up my shirtsleeves to cool down, but truth be told i'd opt for warmer temps and sunshine everytime. people had a good time and eventually it was over.

the next week passed without much of consequence. the countdown to new year had begun. new year's in taiwan isn't that big a deal to the taiwanese as they follow the lunar calendar, but every pub, lounge, restaurant and club in town still had something on. it isn't that different from home also because we can't seem to get our act together to get a plan in place until the day before, true to form, that's what happened.

i called an emergency meeting of minds to divine some deliberation on the topic. ideas were tossed out, clarified, vetoed, re-examined until a definite plan was forged. indian for dinner, followed by an evening @ room 18 where we might be able to hob-nob with local celebrities.

saturday morning of new year's eve arrived and i have a pain in my ass. literally, a pain at the top or my ass where my tailbone is. i can feel a large lump. it is uncomfortable to lie down. it is uncomfortable to stand. it is uncomfortable to sit. after a few hours hemming and hawing about what to do, i conceded defeat and went to the emergency room @ renai hospital. x-rays and $1500NT later, i'm told i have muscle damage and have to take some muscle relaxants on which i can't drink. scratch any plans for the night. i put off the med's, stayed @ home and tried some intensive, alternative alcohol therapy instead to relieve the pain. the pill looked remarkably like a can of taiwan beer. leesh and seb were kind enough to sacrifice their new year to spend with the gimp, so we played poker, drank and ate and at midnight went up to the roof to shout "xin nian kuai le!" at anyone we could see.

as i come to the end of my festive tale, i sit here looking at my christmas tree, lit up (as it has been since christmas day nearly non-stop) and think abou once again how quickly a year goes by...and how empty the apartment will seem without the trimmings and trappings....and how much i hate to take down said trimmings and trappings...talk about a different kind of a pain in the ass. sigh.

at any rate, dear reader, i hope you and yours had an enjoyable and safe holiday season and i would like to extend to you my very best, heartfelt wishes for joy, health and happiness in 2006.