It’s entry-palooza this week, isn’t it??

I was watching Family Guy last night and I saw something that reminded me so much of my fabulous roommate Natalie. For anyone who doesn’t know Natalie, she’s this great person I met in California. She’s been such a great friend these last few months and we’ve had a great time tearing it up in Visalia, Fresno and recently Sacramento.

She moved in this last October and, if you read the blog, her entrance corresponds with my sudden drop-off in writing in this silly thing. I mean, two of the entries I have done in the last 24 hours were done in her absense and I was only able to tweak out my President Ford tribute while she was sleeping on the couch.

Anyways, I’m really glad to have a friend like her and I look forward to spending even more time with her next year. We’ll be swimming in men next year, I just know it! More on Natalie later if I am able to push out this year-in-review thing I’ve been throwing around in my head…

Another Christmas is over and, sadly, this was the second Christmas I spent alone. I know, doesn’t that sound depressing? It’s really not. it’s kind of understandable even. When I moved to Visalia in 2005, Christmas was less than two months away and I had three months until I could take any vacation. Spending Christmas at work was a pretty easy conclusion to come to. I didn’t resent it. It sucked, but it was life. In exchange, I got to move to a fabulous new place and get the escape I had so desired.

At the same time I was grabbling with the fact that I couldn’t see my family then, I was jotting down a vacation for this very week. I wanted the few odd days I had left of vacation for the year to pile up here so I could spend at least 2006 with my family. Unfortunately, a senior coworker put all his chips down and won out (but not before quitting a week before taking the vacation, effectively preventing me from spending the holiday with my family when I very well could have). Since that avenue was blocked, I looked to New Year’s and on Friday I’m gone.

It’s only four days off coupled with a weekend, but I think it will be enough. I’m flying home to Ohio to be with my mother for a few days. Just like my Georgia trip earlier this year, I am so excited about this trip. The one thing I almost can’t stand about living here is the lack of familiarity. Everyone here seems to have some place to call home. They have some enclave to which they can return to. For me, all of that is no less than 2,000 miles over the Sierra. It’s very seldom that I feel fulfilled by the familiar.

Having the opportunity to go back is like a breath of fresh air. I am looking forward to throwing Joey’s tennis ball around my mother’s backyard and harassing that little dog in the fresh layer of snow. I got my mother some thoughtful gifts and I look forward to seeing what she thinks of them. I can’t wait to see my grandma and wish her a Merry Christmas in person and thank her again for all she did for me last year.

Dayton represents to me this mysterious, marginal place. I was born there but I have never had a real connection there. Answering the question, “Where are you from?” has always presented a problem for me. Looking down the runway now, setting aside any other plans I would have for New Year’s (and they range from a fabulous wedding to imploding of a Showgirls landmark), I realize Ohio has become something new for me. Now, I am just happy I am going home.

And in three months, I just get to do it again…