I suppose that it is long past time for me to make my first post of the year. I had originally planned on writing this long post on December 31...kind of a "year that was" sort of thing about my life last year...like you might see on the Fox News Channel, but without any mention of the War on Terror™. However, I think I can sum up my year for you rather quickly: Unemployment, crappy job, Katie Pearson, Oktoberfest, unemployment. That pretty much describes 2002 for me. Here's hoping 2003 will be better.

Anyway, I'm still down in Irvine, although I will be returning home to Montrose tomorrow morning, when my brother and his wife return home. Yet another housesitting job successfully completed. These gigs really are quite boring, when it comes down to it. But, once again, it is free money.

I took a brief hiatus from housesitting for a few days and went down to Vista. I left Irvine on December 30, and drove down to the home of Ryan and Mandy Yingst, where I had the privelege of seeing their newborn daughter, Macy Michelle Yingst, for the second time. I had seen her on the 22nd also, when I went to a Christmas party in Temecula. She's one of the cutest babies I've ever seen. There's a picture of Macy and Erika on Shane's blog. Go look at it.

So, down in Vista, my time was spent with a great number of people who had not all been together for quite some time. On Monday night, I hung out at Ryan and Mandy's house, along with Shane and Erika, and Eric and Tisra Fadely, who were visiting from Tennessee, along with their two year old son, Grant. Grant's a pretty cool kid, also. He replies yes to every question he is asked, even if you ask him if he shot President Kennedy.

New Year's Eve was somewhat boring. The early part of the day was pretty cool...I went over to Eric's parents' house in Fallbrook, and had dinner there and got involved in a game of Axis and Allies, that did not go too smoothly because the game kept getting interrupted. Around 9:00, I went over to the Yingst house to find a group of revelers who were more or less half-asleep. I think we were barely able to stay awake until midnight.

On New Year's Day, Shane and Erika and I went over to Adam and Alicia Young's house in Fallbrook for breakfast. We stayed there until about 3:00 and then went back to Erika's parents'. I ended up falling asleep on the couch while Shane and Erika went to visit Shane's mom. I woke up in confusion, having forgotten where I was. It took me a few seconds to figure it out. I hate it when that happens.

Anyway, New's Year Day proved to be a much more fun evening than New Year's Eve. A large group consisting of Shane, Erika, Ryan, Mandy (and Macy, of course), Adam, Alicia, Lisa Taylor (Mandy's sister), Kristen Figley (another San Diego friend who has remained heretofore unmentioned) and I all went out to dinner at Fidel's in Carlsbad and then went back to Ryan and Mandy's house and ended up playing games until well after midnight. It was quite good to be around all those people again. Sometimes I really miss living down there. Perhaps after my credential is done I'll get a job teaching at Vista High School or something. Or I could go back to Fallbrook High School, and be sort of a Mr. Kotter character.

On Thursday, Shane and I went over to Ryan's and convinced Adam to come over also, and we spent the day playing X-Box, which just rules. My previously mentioned lack of game-playing skills was obvious. Anyway, late in the afternoon, everybody else went over to San Marcos to see Catch Me If You Can, but I had to come back here to pick up the dog from Jaime's parents.

On Saturday night, I had my second annual holiday get together with my old college friends, known affectionately as the Angry Men of Portola. It was the first time that all six of us had been at the same event since Ryan Stottlemyer got married in 1999. Hot shot young lawyer that he is, he and his wife recently purchased a fairly nice home here in Irvine, which is where we had our dinner.

I just read over all of that, and it's really somewhat boring. I guess that's what happens when I wait so long and try to cover too much material all at once. Oh well.

There's something else that I've been meaning to post for a few weeks but just haven't gotten around to doing it. A couple weeks ago, I had a dream involving two people whom I have never actually met, but have seen pictures of. I'm referring, of course, to Nathan Lundblad and the one commonly referred to as The Foos. It seems that I was invited over to Nathan's house, for some reason or other. When I arrive, he tells me to have a seat, which I do, and then he offers me a drink, which I accept. I look over at the couch, and The Foos is sitting there, not saying anything. That's actually all he did in the dream...just sat there. Most likely because I know absolutely nothing about him.

Anyway, after consuming my beverage, I realize that I am starting to feel a bit queasy. It occurs to me that Nathan has slipped me a mickey! As I realize that I cannot move, the front door opens and in walks this little green alien. I look questioningly at Nathan, and he, in typical evil genius fashion, begins to tell me why he has drugged me. It seems that Mr. Lundblad is completely incompetent as a physicist, and all his experiments end in failure. In order to make up for this shortcoming, he has made a Faustian deal with a group of aliens. They help make sure that all his experiments succeed and will help him develop his doctoral thesis. In exchange, however, he must provide them with one human male medulla oblongata per month. He tells me that it won't hurt a bit, and begins to cut into my brain, at which point I woke up.

Needless to say, I will be wary of any invitations from Nathan Lundblad in the future...