December Wrap-Up

December has been one crazy month. You can tell by how few posts there are from December, which is very clear now that the new Blogger kindly keeps track of the number of posts each month. I have barely written a thing in December!

So here's a random list of thoughts:

1. You can tell it's getting close to New Years Eve around here. A few days ago, the large concrete barriers started appearing on the street corners. Then thick streetpoles with large black speakers attached. Huge electrical wires draped over streets. Stages being built. The "2007" already set up on the top of the building in Times Square. Last year I took photos of a lot of these things going up, but this year, I was just running to work, too tired and too sick of the crowds. Which brings me to...

2. The streets are packed around here. I have to cross Times Square to go from home to work and back again. Last night, the mass of people waiting to cross the street had built up to such a level on some of the corners that it was spilling over into the street. And this happened on what I was calling an "extended" street corner meaning that the corner had already taken over part of the lane (it had those pole things in the street to prevent cars from going over there). It was spilling past the poles. And of course, if a crowd is built up, you can't get past the corner to keep walking down the street. 6th Avenue isn't much better. It's usually not that crowded at night, but nowadays, since it's close to Rockefeller Center it's been kind of a nightmare.

3. I haven't felt that into the holidays this year. I think I was so busy at work that the holidays crept up on me without really any warning and then there was so much to do for those that there wasn't much time to just enjoy it. I was so late with my Christmas cards this year that I couldn't even finish them all. One thing I miss about school was having a couple of weeks off in December. You could trim the tree, take a lot of time to buy presents, wrap stuff, enjoy holiday decorations, drive around to look at displays of Christmas lights, sleep, put together holiday treats... hard to do when you're working late. It wasn't this crazy last year. This was a really crazy December!

4. I look forward to new years because of new beginnings and fresh starts. I'm pretty into the resolutions thing and also recapping the past year. Maybe it's because I'm so exhausted, but the two things people probably associate most with NYE in NYC both sound so... tiring (going to a packed club or standing outside in Times Square). What I have never really understood with the whole TS thing (which I did want to do when I was younger) is how do you go to the bathroom? Fit TV really gets the New Years resolutions thing. They aren't doing special programming, but showing workout programming all day tomorrow and into the next. Yeah!

5. Outside one of the lunch places down the street from work were people selling NYE stuff for the past few days. Those 2007 eyeglasses, hats and those loud horns. They were blowing them so loudly the whole time that I wanted to scream at them to stop. Some of us still had to go back to work...

6. Did I mention that the panda cub in Atlanta was named Mei Lan? When I first saw the list of choices, that was my favorite. She just "looked" like a Mei Lan. It fit the little adorable cub so well. I would have been ok with any of the names with "Tao" in them because I could call her Tao Tao but I really liked Mei Lan. Sure, there are a lot of Meis, but it's so cute. And she's so cute!

7. Alvin and I went to Le Madeleine for dinner last night. We live nearby and have been intending to go for awhile, but somehow never made it until last night. And to think that now, they might get evicted soon, is very very sad. Go sign the petition to keep them in the neighborhood! The food was yummy and the atmosphere was so relaxed and so friendly. After all the hard work, it was a perfect meal - so relaxing and a nice escape.

8. I miss the San Diego Zoo and our animal friends there.

9. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I had to get a root canal this month. That sucked. It made eating difficult for some time. The first part of it was done a couple of hours before dinnertime and I was trying to figure out what I could eat. I ended up getting tuna tartare and avocado salad which was perfect (minus the salads part). Yum, tuna tartare.

10. Naruto marathon tomorrow! I can't believe that Alvin said they're going back to episode 1 after the next new episode. But... I have to find out what happens! I guess I'll watch the Japanese version...

11. Thank goodness so much of TV went to repeats and specials at the end of December. My DVR needed a break. It was amazing last week that there were days where, for the first time in months, nothing was being recorded! Shocking!

12. I have so many pictures to download from my cameras. Maybe I'll do that this weekend :)

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy new years! Maybe I'll do a year-end recap later.