Ho, Ho, Ho.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - My first Christmas away from family and friends. It was a little rougher than expected.

Everyone is gone at the hostel. Chris went back to Boston. Christine went home, probably for good. Gia doesn't really come around anymore except when she has to work. Sophie has been at her boyfriend's place a lot. Dave took off for Boston as well and left me in charge in his absence. The plus side to that is that I get to sleep in a real bed for the first time in a long time since I get to take over his mini-apartment on the top floor. Of course, it's a mixed feeling that comes with it because no one is around so I get lonely up there. Quetzal has been around more than anyone else but she spends a lot of time at Marty's.

I never realized until recently just how lonely I can get by myself at night. Seems silly. Lots of people have apartments all to themselves. I just hate the empty stomach feeling that comes along with going to bed in a home by yourself.

The two current housekeepers, Lida and Jeff, are here. But the guests are all gone. The hostel is the emptiest I've ever seen it. Lots of empty beds because of the holidays. So working the desk is basically an exercise in patience. How long can you keep yourself entertained with laundry, taking out garbage, and staring at the back of the room?

Luckily, I've had a wonderful chore to keep me occupied the past few days - trying to fix my computer. It started getting ridiculously slow and randomly crashing. Then the hard drive started clicking. A virus check took 24 hours to work through. An attempted defragging. Then a fun night trying to get all my pictures from the trip onto a separate hard drive between crashes (mission accomplished).

Today I got the blue screen of death.

After the blue screen came up, my computer failed to respond. No need for CPR. This sucker was flatlined. I got in touch with a very nice customer service guy at HP. Unfortunately, he had bad news for me. Two days to ship a box to me, two days to ship the computer to them, nine days to repair it, two days to ship back.

Business days.

I'll have my computer back sometime in the middle of January.

Until then, I'm gonna have to wing getting my pictures off my camera card so it doesn't fill up. And I think the blog is going to be picture free until then. It'll be like real reading.

My deepest apologies.

On the bright side, I got everything important off the computer just in time. That was nice.

Things could be worse.

Plus, I got a package in the mail from my mom. She sent cookies, fudge, and nuts 'n' bolts (sans nuts). She also sent Christmas presents. A few good books and a nice new journal. Perfect for me.

I found out today that the box I shipped out got only one day late. Mom and Pops seemed to enjoy their presents a lot. In fact, my dad launched into a description of his desire to use the book I sent him (about theoretical quantum physics) to find a way to provide the world with free energy. See, I'm not the only one in the family prone to delusions of grandeur. It's one of the Soraks' many fine traits. We're a damn fine set of folks. I don't know what my sister thought of her gifts. Apparently she was in and out of the house so fast that no one really saw her. She was able to tear open her presents and check her email before one parent could go to the bathroom and in less time than it took the other parent to walk to the kitchen and back. Merry Christmas, Sis!

I'm looking forward to my friends being able to get the package I sent them in Bloomington. The deal is that they all have to actually sit down and hang out together for a night, otherwise they can't open the box. That's their present to me.

Happy Holidays everyone.