Meanwhile, in the States...

Well I am back in Georgia after a month of rest and relaxation at home. And by rest and relaxation, I mean the opposite, but I had a lot of fun.

I got back to the states at 1 PM EST... and I was so tired I had no idea where I was or what I was doing or who I was talking to. In fact, I remember thinking, “I should remember where I put this”, or “remember to say something” but I have no idea where or what it could have been... Jet-lag hit and hit hard. Most of the first couple days I was home remain a blur, not exactly sure what was going on at all.

We had some Hanike

But by Friday, I was mostly conscious for the flight to Las Vegas. We went from the airplane straight to the Red Rock Hotel. We had been here before and the only feature I remember from the time before and the feature I feel was a highlight again this time was the TV in the bath... I could have soaked there all day! But of course, I was in Las Vegas and there are things to be done in Las Vegas. Like eat WAY too much food in the restaurants and see shows like Cirque du Soleil's “O”. Personally, I liked “Ka” better, but “O” had some amazing acts. The sailing trapeze act was my personal favorite.

After a couple days at the hotel, we decided enough luxury, let's find a house with a million bedrooms and thirteen other people and let's hang out there for the week. And it was awesome. My dad's whole side of the family got together to celebrate by grandparents and have a fun week just being together.
It didn't matter that we were in Vegas, I spent the whole week relaxing and playing with my two and four year old cousins. And the slightly older cousins, too. There was a trampoline built into the ground in the yard, and we spent many a happy moment out there. There was also a hot tub, and again, it was nice to soak. We did Hanike together and cooked together and all in all, I think the week was a grad success. I have a great family and did I mention that my grandparents are awesome? Well, they are. At the ages of ninety and eighty-five, they hopped on a plane, came to Vegas, and survived a whole week with their progeny. Nicely done.

On the last day we were in Vegas I did what people expect of a person going to Vegas. I gambled. And I did not break the bank... at all... I was up at one point about fifteen dollars. You might have told be to stop then, but honestly, it was about five minutes into playing, and the whole point was I wanted something entertaining to do and I was not interested in the activity the rest of the family engaged in: walking along the strip for a couple hours. Yes, their activity was free, while mine cost be about fifty bucks, but it was totally worth it. I learned a whole lot about blackjack and I got to roll the dice in Craps. I had a great time in Vegas.

We came back to Boston in time for New Years, and while I had many potential plans, I ended up having a great evening inside with friends watching documentaries (terrible documentaries) about aliens, the end of the world, and Mayans. It was a lot of fun. Mostly we watched a bunch of intros and dissected them. For example, we all know that rock music and a thunder storm means the end of the world. I had such a great night. The first week of January, again, a bit of a blur, but this time it was travel blur. First I flew to Baltimore (my seventh plane in less than a month!) and spent a great couple days with the York crowd. Next time, I am getting some swing dancing in. But we did go out into the woods and discuss “The Hunger Games”. After discussing it with several people, I think I would die on the second day of the games were I in them. I would survive the first day by running AWAY from the cornucopia, but then with the lack of being able to find food or defend myself or hide, I would be killed pretty quickly in these games...

Moving on to much happier and more real things, I took the train to New York and had a great time with some people who were visiting from Peru. But even better than that was getting some bubbe time in. Oh ya, and her brisket isn't bad either. I came home and found that I only had one week left in the country and I spent it running around the city. I spent a couple great days at the High School seeing my old teachers and friends. I said some goodbyes.

And then I was on a plane headed back to Georgia. All in all a very hectic, but wonderful month in the states.