The Holiday season comes to a close..

Well, the journey back to Seattle is done and the holidays are finished. Bittersweet, as usual. It means a fresh start and a new year, but it also means the closeness of family and friends has come to a close. The obvious argument is, "You don't need the holidays to have family time! blahblahlblah." The way my family and friends are designed, I do, actually. I had many great times and am extremely thankful for the time I got to spend with the ones that I actually got to see. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see everyone, but that's the nature of the beast, I suppose. The beast being time, obviously.

I got home and, as usual, the first thing I did was play pool with Charlie and had a few more drinks than we expected. It was good to spend time with just us two, shooting the shit... and the cue ball. The next big event was the ugly Christmas sweater party. I was EXTREMELY excited for this because I didn't think I would be back in time to catch any of them. Fortunately, it turned out brilliant and with the help of Bonnie Lee and Mark Horton I had my first peppermint patty. For those of you that don't know, one person dumps Hersey syrup in your mouth while the other dumps peppermint schnapps. Once they have sufficiently overflowed your mouth, you close up and shake your head as fast as possible. It's a sophisticated process and it takes practice, you'll get there if you want to earn it. A good night in the books, indeed.

Christmas Eve and Christmas were spent and Grandma's, not breaking the mold of tradition. It was good to visit with my cousins who are rapidly approaching the college age and we discussed that for a bit. It's amazing to see them come into their own and push back on their parents ideals. Watching people come into their own is something I didn't realize I liked so much, but as I've found out, it's one of my favorite things.

Another thing I realized at the end of the year was that New Year's Eve is rapidly going up my list of favorite holidays (I also realized that I have a lot of lists). It seems that everyone is excited to go out and be with friends and be merry. I think it's the whole 'fresh start' attitude, but everyone just seems to be in good spirits. I hopped around from friend's house to bar to bar to bar. It was great to see everyone and I also discovered that moving around doesn't allow you to drink as much so I was able to stay pretty sober for majority of the night (Yeah, I know, it was weird).

Leaving Seattle was tough, but at the same time I was ready to get back to Dillon. I think I still have a lot I need to figure out and I think being home is the perfect distraction. The airport was the perfect point of limbo where I was incredibly excited to go back to Colorado, but sad to be leaving Seattle.

I have created a few projects for myself to achieve while I am in Dillon, so I can keep busy and have something to show for my time here. I am excited and for once in a long time, I feel like I just may be accomplishing something for myself as a person.

Sea-Tac before my flight...

BC

Lighting the City of Dillon

As I said before, I had some volunteering to do and I did it. Flawlessly. 3 1/2 hours of printing pictures of children with Santa actually is really fun. You literally get to see every facial expression a human can make, most notably, horror. I was a pretty easy system for me, really. I stood there and explained where to find the guys' website then handed them the photo. There was a hot dog delivery system set up, so that was delicious. It ended with a bang.. kind of. Someone in the bowling alley downstairs (Yes, imagine a shopping center with a bowling alley in the basement) threw a dart and hit a fire sprinkler.... HOW BAD IS YOUR AIM WHERE THAT IS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOU?? Anyway, the basement started to flood because the sprinkler was hit and wouldn't shut off. Upstairs it stayed nice and dry, however the loud buzzing of the alarm did get obnoxious for the last 15 minutes we were there.

On the way out the door, the friendly citizens of Dillon that I worked with invited me out to have a few fine lagers. A great group of people and we ended up hanging out for the rest of the evening. The rest of the evening played out pretty fairly. Bar, dance party, smoke machine, dudes climbing to the top of a 50 foot tree trying to mount a golden Santa Claus whilst blasting metal music at 4 am, then sleep.

All in all, a great night.

Working fo' free

After a little over 2 weeks of being cooped up in my apartment (think The Shining) I decided it was time to get out and meet some of the laid back country folk. Seeing a billboard looking for help to "light the city of Dillon" I recognized my calling and punched the numbers. I really had no idea what to expect, but after a few confusing phone calls and a couple weeks later, I was standing in front of boxes of fake trees waiting to be put together. I have had some volunteer experience before that was uneventful, but this was actually pretty fun. We decorated a few rooms where children from the city will come in and create ornaments and we also decorated Santa's room where they will come in and get their pictures taken. When doing the decorating this pro-ject, I met the Mayor of Dillon Ron Holland. He was a very strange guy but very nice. I didn't take pictures of the setup, but I will when I return tomorrow.

It's time to keep track..

Well, it finally happened, I have been encouraged to start one of these blog-type-deals. I wasn't buying it at first, as I couldn't imagine anyone would really care to follow along, but then she (Stacey Hall, blog Goddess) was able to strike the chord that usually pushes me to do anything really productive, my narcissism. She promised it would be a good way to keep track of what was going on at this point in my life. I really can't argue with good ideas, so here we go..

I have made the journey to Dillon, Colorado. I guess there is only one way I can really explain on how/why I ended up here.. have you ever felt that thing in you that says, "What are you waiting for? Get out there!" Well, that pretty much has gotten me to where I type today. It was a horribly selfish move as I have family and friends that I have left without much of a warning. They have been nothing but encouraging, but it does create a bit of guilt on my account. I trust that everyone will forgive me after a few rounds of beer.

Here's a quick video of my rental. I only brought a few things as it came fully furnished, so trust that I do not have an affinity for the 70s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMTaf8OG0y

<3 BC <3