CTHB

Once I got into Ottawa, I went straight to a Christmas Eve function at a church that I used to go to when I was in high school. It feels weird going back these days, since most of the people that I knew then aren't around. The other thing is that I'm really not that much into the idea of Christianity anymore, having developed differing philosophies since heading off to college. Still, I have some great friends there and it's good to see them again, wherever the venue.

I miss eating poutine. My waistline doesn't agree.

Christmas Day was quiet and spent with family, as I like it, as how I think it ought to be. Had dim sum for lunch and ran into some old family friends at the restaurant. Running into old Chinese friends at the only restaurants and stores open on major federal holidays is one of the more amusing and fun things that I like.

Met my sister's boyfriend for the first time. He seemed like a really nice guy, a little quiet, but I guess I can be a little intimidating. Shame I couldn't find a polygraph machine for the full treatment. Sis, if you're reading, the "At least he didn't piss me off" comment is not as glowing an endorsement as I could have given. I trust your judgement. ;)

Boxing Day means sales. It was great to see Chris again and brave the crowds at the Future Shop and Best Buy to see what we could scavenge. Probably walked away from the place with far more DVDs than I need... Who am I kidding? I don't need any of my DVDs--except the Lord of the Rings extended editions--and I especially don't need that extra copy of The Count of Monte Cristo that I accidentally bought.

Materialism aside, the best part of the day was having dinner at the pub with Chris while watching football and reminiscing about old times and new. Cheers, Coop.

The rest of the trip was embroiled with various meals and meetings with family, starting with a meeting of the cousins at my uncle's place in Stittsville, and then relocating to Toronto to drift between the various elements of my mom's side of the family. Met more significant others of cousins and stuff like that. Lots of fun all around.

Yeah, I'm summarising. This is getting a little long.

Trip home: uneventful. Returning home, though, was an exercise in jumping right into cleaning house in preparation for guests that were arriving the next day.

Had a couple of friends from college, Kai and Juliet, come into town for New Year's and a little beyond. New Year's Eve itself was pretty quiet, nothing too riotous, perhaps a little sober since we were all getting up pretty damned early in the morning to climb Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park to greet the first sunrise of 2005.

I'm not sure where the tradition came from, but it's something that a bunch of Koreans in Los Angeles do. Being friends with some Koreans, I went along for the ride last year and continued to do it this year. While it's painful to make that early rise in the dark only to hike up this big hill, the sunrise is phenomenally beautiful and I took lots of pictures this year. I don't have any of the pictures ready for the web yet, but I've got some great pictures of sunsets and sunrises. If anyone thinks they're worth anything, I may sell them as posters or something.

At one point, there was a hawk that was playfully hovering in the wind nearby, but I wasn't able to take a picture of it before it flew off. There was a distinct absence of poongmul drummers this year, which dampened the festivity a little bit. I hope they come back next year.

And then I had a day to recover and it was right back to work with me. Hooray!