Let the holiday madness continue.

So after boxing day (Monday) I woke up with the extreme gladness that I didn’t have to return to ‘real’ work until the 5th of January. Hooray! Although I would be at the video store that night, I wouldn’t have to trudge my ass out of bed and wait in the darkness for the bus at 7 in the morning for another week and a half. The video store was chill, as always, but especially so as it was pretty much all returns of videos from over the holiday weekend. No dealing with “ummmm, can you recommend a movie?” aaaah, just me, my movie and video filing. Good times…

The next day marked the arrival of my second visitor from the united states. The ever fun steve liu (and his friend from the Czech Republic – Yipka (sp?)). His arrival couldn’t have been better timed as I was off work and had nothing really scheduled minus the new year concert (which I conveniently had 2 extra tickets initially earmarked for ebay, but friends are better than cash). We did the usual show people around Edinburgh (said as steve would say “ed-in-burg”) by day and hit the pubs at night. Twas good fun. Yipka brought these AMAZING little bite sized Czech sugar cookies that is a Christmastime tradition over there. Each household has their own recipies and varieties. Really, it was as though the dana/meera culinary tagteam had come back into my life. If people want to stay with me, baked goods are always a good way to get yourself an extra few weeks of hospitality.

Now steve and I are inexplicably linked in more ways than I like to think. Of course there is the direct link of campus reps. Also the jazz band with professors he used to play with (which has one of the few chem. professors that actually went to the trouble of getting to know me and liked/remembered me over the years). Then there is the slightly weirder steve playing on my IM team after dislocating my knee. But during this trip we found about 3 more different connections involving steve (the ex-1332er), his exgirlfriend and various other people. The twisted web we wove of indirect connections over the past 5 years could easily rival the current incest web being showed on the OC now.

Most of this was discovered while Yipka was shopping in an FCUK shop. Now I have not really been in a shop like this in a very long time. I re-discovered my extreme dislike for shopping. I also noticed that people have the same face in casinos that they have while shopping. A bit dead, a bit sad, but with a pinch of hope. I dunno, I overanalyze things like that a bit too much. But I had to occupy my brain with something, lest it be overpowered by the fact that for the full 30 minutes we were in there – BRITNEY SPEARS. NOTHING BUT FUCKING BRITNEY SPEARS. GOOD GOD. Torture. No not really, but close.

Ian (aka, drunk house party host from the last entry) had lived in an apartment that seems to have been the equivalent to 1332 over here. The last people living there were moving out and they had an end-of-an-era party. Steve and I went (Yipka called it an early night) and had a pretty good time. Was fun, but socializing with strangers can get a bit exhausting. Highlights:
*chatted with one of the flatmates mom for a good 15 min
*got the chris martin thing
*hit on by flight attendant
*drunk girl trying to steal my coat (accidentally? I was sitting on the steps outside and noticed her stumbling down to her taxi with it)
*doing the “what booze can we find at the end of the party” game

***coming soon - part #3 - jack daniels, wiskey with an e, not a y***