Circus Xtreme - December Break Week 4

[taz_39]

My last week home was a good time. On Monday I took Raven back to New York, to her office at the startup company Alley NYC. She gave me a tour of the building; it's a coworking space for all kinds of companies...and that's about all I understand about it! But the workspace is awesome and I'm awfully proud of Raven for the work she does here.




The next day, Kayle and Skylar had to leave. The house is much more quiet without them :/ But we'll see them soon, at Kate's wedding next year!

Tuesday was kind of a slow day. I did some cleaning and ran some errands with my parents. The coolest part of the day was when I got to meet up with an old friend, Rhi Wallace. I used to work with her at the local movie theater. Now she's a tattoo artist for A Psychic Unicorn in Wilkes-Barre. Earlier in the year I won some Halloween art from Rhi. In addition to this art, she brought me a stunning marker drawing of a painting elephant!!


Wednesday was Kate's birthday! We went to her house to play games, and later went to her favorite restaurant, The Blind Pig. I had rabbit for the first time! It tasted a lot like dark meat turkey. I was expecting a more gamey taste, but some online research tells me that farm-raised rabbit has a taste profile closer to tender chicken. Neat!

The next day was New Years Eve! During the day we cooked food, and in the evening we brought it over to the Chapmans house (they're my parent's friends). We played games and enjoyed the food until it was time for the ball to drop in Times Square. Then we counted down the seconds...

2015 has been kind of a crazy year. Many friends and family have been in the hospital, lost jobs, or faced other hardships. I hope that 2016 will be a little easier on everyone.

New Years Day: we drove to Williamsport to run errands, but most stores were closed so we ended up having a nice lunch at Red Lobster before going home. I played with some of my Christmas goodies, including a clip-on macro lens that my sister Raven got for me. I took lots of photos of mundane things, including this Flintstone vitamin and my eyeball. Whee!



The next day was pretty slow. We had a relaxing morning. I finished packing, and ran over to my sister's house to say goodbye to my brother (he's going back to college). That evening I went to a pot luck organized by my high school friend, Tara. She invited many folks from high school, and we all enjoyed some great food and getting caught up on who's-doing-what and who's-working-where. It was a great way to end my visit home.

On Sunday I loaded up the car, and my parents drove me out to Wilkes-Barre to pick up a rental car. From there I drove down to North Carolina to visit my former roommates, Jeremy and Charlie. Charlie made ziti casserole, and Mary K. from next door came over with a salad. It was great to see them after all this time! They've done some amazing work on their house, which I will post pictures of next week.

Today I'm spending time with the boys, then driving a few hours to get closer to Florida.


Other stuff:

Back at the train, old bedroom cushions and mattresses are being thrown out and replaced with new ones. Some joker decided to see how many cushions the poor little tractor could pull...