So Christmas day turned out better than I thought it would. Spending time with friends can sorta make up for the family not being here for the holidays. So I need to throw out a few thank yous for my merry Christmas:

- Thank you Mole for sharing Christmas with your family. Maybe they'll eat my cake next time.
- Thank you Spoiled for having me over for dinner. If I ever need photos from when I first arrived to Hawaii, I'll let you know.
- Thank you Monkey for having us over for the Christmas after-party. Sorry about hogging the tissue.

and finally...

- Thanks to all for the gifts and warm wishes for a happy holiday. I promise to put the gifts to use and not regift them. ><

So with the passing of Christmas comes the turn of a new year. Resolutions, I will make. And in '05, I will definetly need to stick to them. And since I'm already on a roll listing them down, here's a few of mine.

- Find a new job. Pronto.
- Go to the gym (aim for three times a week). And this time, I need to work my abs, too.
- Be less "mean".
- Attend more family outings and try to attend every invitation that comes my way.
- Spend less time online.
- Be less lazy and do more around the house.
- In general, be more productive.

I really need to get my act together at the start of the year. It's been 5 years out of high school and I had my "What are you doing now?" self-check and I have to admit, I'm not proud of myself. Two mediocre part-time jobs, living with my family in a cramped apartment, watching hours pass by on my laptop clock... I really do need to change... and '05 is the time to do it.

My family is on their trip, Auntie Norms has left for the mainland, and a few good friends have graduated... Seems like everyone is on the move aside from me. Yeah, pops and the keeds joined mom in Tarlac for the holidays, which means I spend Christmas and New Year's without the fam. Well, it's not like the first time I have done it before, but this time, I'm not with friends/a gf to spend time with.. I really am by myself. :( But no use crying over spilt milk; maybe I'll head down to Femme Nu with all the old lonely men. After all, they are "open everyday, even on holidays!"



The weekend started Thursday night with Monkey's birfday party at, you guessed it, the OC. She and her nursing pal reserved the VIP section for a fun night of drinks, dancing, and mingling. I got to meet the gang's good friend Britannica and found out *69's fav drink, "Papa's Special." (Yes *69, it's non-alcoholic.)



Friday night, I had a (late) dinner with So Fetch. I'm never eating Japanese with that girl again; all she orders is chawan mushi and some form of chicken teriyaki. @_@ We saw the holiday lights at the Capitol making this the first year I spent the light-viewing tradition with a not-girlfriend. Nothing new to see this year but the gay snowperson debate was discussed further when So Fetch pointed out that the mother could actually be a transvestite. She may be right since she does know her gay men. Another friend pointed out that the gay snowperson in question could actually be the grandmother. But if so, wouldn't the snowperson have wrinkles and saggy snow-boobies? BOOBIES, HAHAHA, hehe.



Congratulations Sucka, *69, Stanley, and the rest of the UH graduates. UH must have really shapen up when it came to commencement exercises; they've actually ended on schedule (or earlier) as opposed to previous semesters. Man, that afternoon was scorching hot! And on top of all the walking back and forth finding people to lei, that's a lot of back sweat... Mole was practically a sponge by the time I dropped her off. My leis for Sucka and *69 were classic!



The weekend concluded with a grad lunch with Sucka's family at Royal Garden and the UH Grad Bash at the OC (second time in four days ><). Pretty much the same as Thursday, but this time the DJ played Bel Biv Devoe (!) and I didn't spend as much on booze. Woohoo! I also bumped into Lil' Sis... haven't seen her in years! Wow, she's grown up from the person I remembered in high school. But she's totally different from her older sister whom I had a crush on in high school. Ah, memories.

Christmas winds down in a few short days and I still got to crank out the rest of my Christmas list. Crowded malls, bad drivers, and the ever elusive open-parking stall here I come!

After a short hiatus, Mr. Magikstick is back with another edition of the blog. I've done quite a bit the past several weeks including a turkey dinner, recovering from a cold, karaoke, a christmas party, an assortment of movies, and a bit of shopping.

I won't ramble too much in this blog about everything, but here's a quick recap (with pictures).



Thanksgiving - It was the first turkey day in awhile that we spent it at my cousin's house. My mom usually puts up a fit when we do spend time with my dad's side of the family but since she had already left early for my family's vacation to the PI, my dad was able to enjoy himself. It was good to see my nephews and nieces since I hadn't seen them in quite a bit. It was the first time I saw the youngest although he pretty much avoided me the whole night. Case in point: I'd be lounging on the couch next to the front door when I see the young'n open the screen door and step inside. I'd say "Hello" and he'd just turn around and go back outside. O_o I guess it'll take time before he gets adjusted to Uncle Magikstick.



Karaoke with ITMA and Friends - A night at HMC with the ITMA folks was pretty enjoyable. Yes, there was the usual mic-hogging, off-key singing, and alcohol drinking, but Sucka, Vina, Poosey, and friends know how to have a good time. I hope everyone enjoyed my rendition of "All I Want For Christmas Is You." A Christmas karaoke night seems like a pretty good idea; anyone up for it?



The CPB/CB Christmas Party - This year, the annual christmas party was a bit bigger than the ones I've been to mainly because of the increased number of employees due to the merger. I took Mole this year although she was an ungrateful date guest, who kept complaining about no flowers and no limo rides. Although there was a problem with seating arrangements, (We were lucky enough to find seats) the night turned out to be pretty entertaining. There was chicken dancing, barf cake, drunken coworkers, and lots of awesome picture taking(yes, we got a lot of weird looks). Mole is such a kook: she managed to pull her tongue muscle. O_o

Looks like work at CB is going to be very different in the next two weeks. I start my CPB training this week, while Auntie is leaving Wednesday and Carmy already has plans to leave for Saint Francis. It'll be interesting where I'll end up at the end of this month cause I know things are going to be really different if I do something about it or not.