It's an Exciting World

We had a very chill New Years Eve with Adam, Candice, and Micah.  We played a game that Candice Brought, with me crushing the first game, and Adam winning the second.  It was called Letter Tycoon.  We then played a round of Ascension right before midnight.  We toasted at midnight and soon after everyone left to head home.

Steph and I were ready to get out after she had been sick for a week and a half, so we chatted up Kevin, Lindsay, Andrew, and Debby on hangouts and asked if they wanted to do dinner.  We got the day mixed up so Steph and I got a nice dinner together at an Indian place near Kevin and Lindsay’s apartment.

The next day we got a good dinner with them at a different place and got to have some good conversations in the hot tub afterwards.  Bonus pics of cats looking at cats…

Steph and I went through a dive training course for side mounted double tanks in preparation for cavern and cave diving. We ordered all the equipment through Diver Dan’s, and Mike was kind enough to walk us through the setup and pool practice for the fitting.  He also lent us a good bit of his gear, which was very useful in getting things measured and set up.

We did the online course before showing up for the classroom session on the 16th of December.

We stayed in SF that night as the first pool day was the following day.  We did four hours in the pool, and I was completely exhausted by the end of it.  That effectively marked the end of the smoothie diet.  If I was going to do four hour pool sessions for dive training I needed more energy.

The instructor Lexi was great, and very patient.  She was able to walk us through all the information and was able to help us get our gear set up correctly.

We did two more four hour pool sessions, then Steph and I jumped in the pool at Diver Dan’s for a few more hours of practice time.  She went back another day while I was at work and did a few hours more.

George hosted a holidays themed karaoke at his place.  It was a lot of good songs, and some really good singing.  George, Lindsay, and Debby had obviously prepared and practiced a few of the songs.  There were a few others who were just great singers to begin with who may or may not have practiced.  I sung ‘You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch’ and ‘Let it Snow.’

Lindsay organized a white elephant gift exchange for the evening.  I brought a travel power strip, and Steph brought a book with a cat photoshopped into famous paintings.  We had a good time.  I tried to steal a light up sweater, but it was in a woman’s size and didn’t fit my arms.  I then stole some Pusheen slippers, but Debby got those.  I ended up with a cat Jedi/Sith calendar, which we will probably be using for 2019.

I’ve been holding steady at about 180 lbs and wanted to get down to 165.  I decided that the smoothies I typically have 2 per day of would be a great diet if I had 6 a day and nothing else.  They are typically comprised of flaxseed, rice protein powder, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, and strawberry.  For this diet I’m adding some peanut butter and whey protein powder.  I’m about 10 days in right now and it isn’t too bad.  The calorie count comes to about 1200 per day, but the volume of smoothie is enough that I can eat(drink) pretty much whenever I’m hungry(most of the time).  It is going well, and I’m not getting any adverse effects besides being hungry and craving foods.  It is going well and I’m down to 175.  I plan to stop this once I reach 170.

The ingredients work out to a bag of frozen spinach, a bag of frozen cali veggie mix, 6 spoonfuls of protein powder (3 whey, 3 rice), 2 spoonfuls of ground flaxseed, one small bag of frozen strawberries, and 3 spoonfuls of peanut butter.  I mix in some other ingredients depending on how I’m feeling that day and what is available.  Mostly the fruit changes: mango, pear, guava-stein, mixed berries.  It only takes about 15 minutes in the morning to prep it all, and I can grab more on the way home from work since the train station is right next to the grocery store.

I joined Adam, Tina, and Tim for what was planned to be Mage Knight.  We ended up playing Feast for Odin instead.  I did well both times, but didn’t win.  Amit joined us halfway through, and played the second time with Tina.

Lindsay organized a pole dancing class for her birthday.  It was a ton of fun, and we had a pretty good sized group there: George, Tina, Andrew, Debby, Lindsay, Kevin, Marily, Steph, and myself.  This was the first pole dancing class for most of us, but we still got to learn a lot of the basic moves.  We even got to inversions, and I had a lot of fun with those.  The people in better shape, and with better body awareness, were the ones who really did well.  Andrew even did some chinese style climbs, just walking up the pole with hands and feet.  Marily was able to do the climbs better than the rest, but she wasn’t the best at getting back down.  George was able to do everything first try, although he had done a pole dancing class before.  I think everyone was eventually able to get every move that the instructor showed us.  After the class we gave Lindsay an appropriately timed gag gift of some La Croix.

After pole dancing we moved on to dinner at Noelanis, a Hawaiian food place in San Carlos.  The food was amazing, but there wasn’t too much for Steph there.  We shared some great fries and of course spam masubi.  The ladies (and George) got some drinks, and Lindsay got drunk on 1/3 of her first drink.  To be fair, it was a large and strong drink.  After sharing desert we all headed home.

I was a groomsman at the wedding of Michael and Ala.  It was a great time.  The location was gorgeous, at an old chapel that was now part of the UMSL campus.  It was part of an old convent, and had since been converted to a religiously neutral chapel.  It still felt very Christian.  The service was also very neutral, but at the same time felt very Christian.  There was lots of “The Lord,” but no mention of “Jesus.”

The entire event went smoothly, and the best man and groomsmen stepped in to smooth out anything that looked like it was going off the rails.  I had a great time.

The reception was amazing.  It was held at an innovation center, that usually had free coworking space for startups.  There was a Jordanian band that played Michael and Ala’s entrance, and it was a lot of fun dancing to it.  They had drums, a loudspeaker, and bagpipes.  They had everyone join in on the dancing and chanting.  I had no idea what I was saying, but it was all fun.

The speeches were touching and Ala smearing the cake all over Michael’s face was hilarious.  I took video of the important parts at the reception:
Google Photos

Steph and I got some time together the day before thanksgiving as I was flying out of SFO and she was flight in.  We were scheduled to have it so that she landed at the exact same time as I was taking off, but my flight got delayed by almost two hours.  This let us spend a good 30 minutes together and we got to chat a bit at the airport.  I made it to my parents early Thanksgiving morning and we had a full family dinner, minus Steph.  She spent thanksgiving with her parents.

Thanksgiving was exciting, and I got to chat with my mom a lot, and spend a lot of time with my sister.  It wasn’t under the best circumstance, but it was still good to spend time with them.  I also got to see her new place, which is very nice.  I can see them have a great life there.

Friday I went over to Jeff’s house and helped him move some boxes around and break down a few more boxes.  I also really like their new house.  Both of their houses are much bigger than ours, with much bigger yards.  They are prepping for family raising so it makes a lot of sense for them to have the bigger houses.

I went to the W that evening to meet up with Steph.  She got in and we just relaxed that evening.  We walked over to Poor Calvin’s, one of the places we were going to cater from for the event on Sunday.  The food was really good, and the place was cute.

Saturday we didn’t do very much.  I walked around Georgia Tech campus and saw all the things that had changed.  I was hoping a few of the brothers would be at the house watching the game, but when I went by it was quiet.  I also was hoping that I could go have lunch at the student center, but everything there was also closed for the holiday weekend.  I ended up just having lunch in Tech Square and heading back to the room.

Steph and I joined our parents for dinner at the country club, and it was a nice affair.  Not many people were there because of the holiday weekend and the football games.  The dinner went by without drama, which is nice.

Sunday came around and I went to pick up a zip car, Steph and I then drove out to Sweetwater Creek state park.  We checked in and the car didn’t start after that.  We were able to catch a Lyft to and back from the grocery store in time for the first people to start arriving.  Uncle Russel helped us to set up the tables and chairs.

My parent showed up with the platters of deviled eggs, and Jeff showed up with the BBQ.  It was all very tasty food.  The family then showed up in the van, and I was able to have a good conversation with most of them.  Brian and Brittany came, as did Nick.  The other fraternity brothers weren’t able to make it, but I still enjoyed being able to chat with the three of them.  The Lee’s came by around 2, and I was able to introduce them to the family.

Everything slowed down around 5pm and we packed up and headed out.  The whole event was nice and chill, just the way Steph and I wanted.

That evening we just relaxed at the hotel.  We went across the street for dinner, and got to sleep early.

All in all it was a good Thanksgiving.