For those on the Gregorian calendar, I wish you a belated Happy New Year. Near the twilight of 2006, I caught a nice cough, which slowly but surely evolved into a full-blown cold, despite my steady intake of Airborne Formula. I probably should have started taking it earlier, while it was still just a sore throat, but oh well. Theraflu still rocks my world though, that and Formula 44. Speaking of OTC meds, why are almost all the cough syrups sold over the counter multi-symptom? I don�t need a decongestant, I don�t need an expectorant and I don�t need stuff for runny noses or fevers, just give me the cough suppressant damn it and I�ll take the Theraflu Nighttime before I sleep, thank you. Luckily Formula 44 has an OK cough suppressant, without all that other junk.

I was able to finally donate blood after putting it off for the past couple of weeks because of all my last-minute Christmas stuff. I had an appointment to donate a double-unit of red blood cells, but the one machine they had to perform that procedure (called ALYX) was being used by another donor, so I just put in a regular whole blood donation. Donating a double-unit in an interesting experience, the ALYX machine basically sucks out 2 pints of your blood, in small portions of course, centrifuges the blood, thus separating the plasma from all the cells. The plasma portion, up to one pint is pumped back into the bloodstream through the same insertion. It�s fascinating stuff really. This type of donation tends to knock me out a bit more than the regular kind, but it�s for a good cause, since red blood cells are one of the most needed products from blood donations. I�ll probably sign in for a double-unit for my next donation.

The New Year�s Eve I had planned was supposed to be low key. There was the �Porn and PJ�s� themed party thrown by an acquaintance, which was supposed to be a sleepover type of party. It's an interesting change to the usual, go to a bar and get plastered NYE plan. Surprisingly, my friends who referred me to this party were no shows, but fortunately I did know the host of the party through our mutual friends and I was also acquainted with her sister. Thanks to the whole NFL flexible schedule thing the early-afternoon Bears vs. Packers game, became a New Year�s Eve prime time game, for which the Bears unfortunately put in a disappointing loss. I know the game didn�t count since the Bears already clinched the division title, a first round bye and home field advantage, but still, I hope they don�t play like that in the playoffs where it does count. Grossman has promise, but he has to stop throwing all those fucking interceptions. So the game was on the TV instead of the previously scheduled porn. The crowd was mixed, quite a few around my age actually, along with a few couples, married and otherwise. It was nice to meet new faces actually and as an added bonus, seeing all these women in their sleepwear was kind of a turn on.

Interestingly enough, I actually met the host�s sister last summer (the blonde whom I will now refer to as �Bombshell�) as described in the following entry. The reason I�m calling her bombshell should be readily apparent, she has shoulder-legnth blonde hair, a cute face with high cheekbones and a really sexy body and she�s tall, but not so tall that she couldn�t wear her highest heels next to me. She�s easily one of the most attractive girls I�ve ran into in a while, which I suppose makes her seem all the more delicious. To make a long story short, if you are not inclined to read the linked entry about our meeting last summer, she was the girl who was with a guy who seemed like he could have been her boyfriend, except for the fact that he was out flirting with a bunch of other girls and she was flirting with me. It was weird actually, because they would behave in each other�s proximity but then quickly resume the extra-curricular flirtation when they were out of each other�s sight. Personally, I was quite amused observing this little game of �cat and mouse� that they were playing and I have to admit I was intrigued by her but I never got her number that night and although I ran into her sister a few times, I didn�t get a chance to see the Bombshell again until that eve.

Although the guy that she was with last summer was notably absent, I didn�t want to make any assumptions, so I did what I do best and played it cool. We breezed though the usual small-talk and embarrassingly enough I did not remember the bombshell�s name that drunken evening. She did remember mine though which I thought was cool and she gave me hers, so now I actually have a name to go with her face. After shooting the breeze a little, the question came up of whether or not I had a girlfriend. I let her know that I was single and returned the question to her, �do you have a boyfriend�? From her response, she was definitely in a �gray area� with him, much more now than last summer, especially since they weren�t with each other on New Year�s Eve. Because of all that, it put the idea, in my mind at least, that whatever relationship they may have is now on life support and it�s time for dr. derrick to come by and pull the plug on it, or at the very least, meander around a bit and �carelessly� trip on the cord.

Unfortunately, I couldn�t stay for the rest of the party. Aside from me not arriving in my PJs, My sister and cousin were throwing a combined New Year�s Eve party and I had to be there, but more on that later. As I was preparing to leave, I smoothly asked for the bombshell�s number. Aside from being more than willing to give her number, she actually wanted me to stay for the party because she wanted to make out with me. If I wasn�t sick as a dog and hopped up on cold meds, (and committed the previous engagement of course) I would have totally taken her up on her offer, because damn she was tempting in her bedtime outfit. I guess it's all for the best though, since I didn�t want her to remember me for infecting her with some nasty cold virus. I went in for the hug and she gave me her lips instead. I had to satisfy myself with just a touch on her lips though. She also asked me to give her a call, which I did on New Year�s Day, but I got her voice mail so I just left her a Happy New Year greeting. Yeah I know, I broke the Swinger�s 2-day rule (you have to watch the movie to understand), but to be fair, she did ask me to call her the next day. I�ll be sure to follow up in the next few days, because honestly I�m having a hard time getting her out of my mind.

My cousin who turned 21 recently had the apartment to himself while his dad went out of town for NYE. I usually have fun when I hang with my family, but I had the feeling that I had to be the watchdog that night. Lots of underage drinkers found their way to the party and my cousin passed out early, like soon after midnight. He was OK with the booze, but the weed hit just knocked him out. So I and our mutual friend tried to maintain some semblance of order and basically I had to stay sober throughout the night and do a bit of babysitting. I was easily one of the biggest guys there, so if I had to bounce anyone it wouldn�t be a problem. I didn�t need to though, because the younger people basically just wasted beer. They would pop the tops, have like one sip and leave the bottle aside. I didn�t spring for anything in the party so I didn�t care; I figure it�s better than them walking out of this party smashed. Towards the end of the night I was cleaning up bottles, putting away glasses and trashing the trash and it wasn�t even my fucking place. My sister surprisingly stayed straight and actually helped keep people in line, which was cool. Secretly I think she enjoyed yelling and being bitchy to people she didn�t know. She�s well on her way to being a diva. =p

There was one dude who drank himself silly, I think he was depressed over some chick, so he got totally bombed, rolled over face down onto the floor and puked up a storm. I figured since he was face down, he wouldn�t choke on his own vomit and luckily his friends were there to help clean him up and the mess, but seriously you didn�t want to be in this room while this was taking place, lots of yakking and gurgling sounds like a scene right out of the Exorcist. I saw the guy the next morning and asked him �How did your spin your head all the way around like that?� he just laughed. Another war story to tell the kids I guess.

I spent New Year�s afternoon with my sister in hangover recovery mode. Although I wasn�t hung over per se, I was still as sick as a dog and not very useful the next day. After she sent the last of her friends on their merry way, we caught a few season one episodes of Battlestar Galactica. Yup, I got her addicted to the show after letting her watch the miniseries pilot episode which was included in season one and now I don�t have to be a geek doing Battlestar Galactica marathons alone.

So anyway, this leads us to today. My first class is tomorrow night and my other class starts next Tuesday, meaning I�ll be staying in the downtown condo on school nights and more weeknights if possible. My step dad is out of town for vacation so I�ll have the condo to myself tomorrow night. His girlfriend�s cat is staying there, so hopefully I�m not allergic. It will be nice to be at the old condo again even if it is just as a visitor. Seriously though, once I�m done with school, if the condo isn�t made available for me way before that, I�m just going to bite the bullet and rent, even if it�s a closet-like studio apartment. Sometimes a guy just needs a place he can call his own. But anyway, that�s all for this episode, until next time...