don't panic

Thank you, Joel, for the blog post title today.

And for making me panic every single time I played Smooth Moves by screaming "DON'T PANIC!!!"right next to me.

It was a New Year's Eve. For the first time ever Peter and I ventured out on this one of the most overrated holidays. Last year we watched Star Wars. The year before we went to the Sandbar briefly, but ended up at home where I fell asleep before midnight. This year we were invited to Zeeland to celebrate lowkey style with some people we don't get to see nearly often enough. There were chocolate martinis (deadly. downright evil. taste like chocolate milk) and too many bottles of wine to count and Canadian Club (I'm a convert. It ain't no Jameson, but I definitely like it better than Jack) and Steve's Purple Monster (watermelon vodka and grape juice combined taste exactly like Grape Jolly Ranchers) and beer. I think there was beer. I don't think I drank any beer, but I distinctly remember other people drinking beer. Thankfully Steve and Ericka have a superswell guest room we stayed in which was for the best as we didn't go to bed until...ummm...well...about 6am after watching the first 15 minutes or so of The Hitchhiker's Guide in honor of the abovementioned DON'T PANIC! I think DON'T PANIC is going to be my mantra of the year.

Sunday night was actually even a wee bit more crazy. The Traverac expressed an interest in the Sandbar so we picked him up on our way out of town with the intention of staying until 8 or 9pm. Imagine my surprise when that didn't happen. Eric showed up. Reckless, whom I hadn't seen in about a year, showed up with Steve. And then the shocker of them all: Metal and Becky and Luke! Luke got the exclamation point, but I actually don't really know him but he seemed like a nice guy and is a fellow Hollander. Metal and Becky and Luke and Peter promptly started playing Scrabble leaving me to talk politics and art with the other table. It really was something.

Though a good time I really am happy this whole holiday business is done and over with. Let's get down to the business of getting really depressed because it's January and then even more depressed because it's February started, I say. It's the time of year both Peter and I have been dreading and joking that only one of us is going to make it out alive. Though it is the best apartment ever and does have big windows there is a touch of crazy--crazy like "The Shining" crazy--lurking around in the rafters of that place. It could be one of those winters I go insane without noticing I'm going insane as I have a tendency to go into big time nesting mode when it gets nasty outside thereby forgetting that balance includes being social with actual people not just my cat.

I just have to remember that all work and no play makes Erin a very dull girl.