first bit. This is late, but a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

captainlove.

well, Chistmas was survived, with a relieving lack of drama, and other than everyone making much of my being there at all, no one asked me any questions, which was nice. Still after a day of being with... lets see... 13 very... loud... people, I'm completely wrung out. Andee the dishrag, that's me. I want to sleep for a week. Or four. Really need to do something about the constant exhaustion problem... of course getting to bed before 3am some nights might help. *wry grin* I guess I just wish that after these sorts of things I could beam my way back to my own warm cozy bed in MA as opposed to waiting the next day to extricate myself and have a tiring five hour trip back. And for the first time, I really missed Mom. *sigh* She had a settling influence on me, even as she drove me bonkers. Could've used that today. That and Anucha had a voicemail of her being goofy that she's hung onto for two years... how do you get voice mail that sticks around for longer than a week? *sigh* probably also didn't help that sunny called while we were all headed to Amastan's to tell me that

anzovin's dad had died a couple of hours earlier, so once we'd gotten there I was in a rather morbid frame of mind to begin with.

There were some really good moments today though. Everyone, and I mean everyone LOVED the presents I picked out for them. Alé and I discovered to our utter shock that except for an inch or so of forehead (mine's bigger) and a foot or so of hair (this girl could keep a small country in wigs and still have hair for herself) the resemblence is... rather striking. I kept chasing her around asking for my smile back. Dad was rather beside himself upon seeing me, and quite frankly I was really glad to see him too. Really, I was glad to see all of them, but whoo, three hours with all of these crazy niggas is more than enough, let alone a day. *sigh* hopefully I'll manage to stay in touch with them enough for them to keep out of my hair, cause (in small doses) I do need these folks. And they need me. which is totally weird. But families are like that.

By the way, a chunk of us are back at the Sierra Suites tonight. That's where I am right now, though this time I had the sense to lug along my laptop, so I don't have to sit in the so called business center and ponder the greater mysteries presented by the Dusseldorf clock - which is fine cause now they have some kinda filtering on their computers that don't let you view comments or post an entry on LJ, so fuck that right in the ear. :P Still. Dusseldorf, the eternal question...

Ah speaking of strange little german towns, i finally got more than a two sentence email from lil' timmy tinkletop (that ought to make

timarok mad - hee hee). A Christmas miracle I tell you! Snark aside, it probably brought the first smile to my face that wasn't on some level forced or painful, so that's something.

grr. Tired. Don't wanna sleep yet, too... twitchy I guess. God, I just want to go home. Now.

I hate feeling brittle.