Carmalyn, say hi to Ethan; Paige, say hi to Andy; Andrea, say hi to... your cats.

When family conversations end in this way, it's time to start drinking.

So I haven't provided an update since before Solstice. Now is as good a time as any. Yes, I'm watching the SuperBowl, I'm just not entranced enough that I can't blog a little as well.

I took off the last two days of work before the break to use up some of my banked vacation and rest/prepare for my holiday travel, and to finish my e-Solstice Letter, of course. I sent it to my former co-worker B-Rad the same day he left Cupertino to go to San Diego. We met up for dinner on his way through LA and shared many good stories. The hostess took a good picture... of him.

I met the family in Florida for Christmas, as usual. We went to the beach a lot. I snorkeled quite a bit (not a tour, either, just the beach) and was rewarded with up-close sightings of parrotfish, a skate, a horseshoe crab, what looked like a blue and green relative of the porcupine fish, and a seahorse. A seahorse! My life is complete. There was much reading, relaxing, cooking, and card playing. There was mucho family drama. It was exhausting.

Since I was on the east coast anyway, I popped up to see Saima and Sajid and their new addition, Safan, at their new home in Orangeburg, SC. Not much in South Carolina was open New Year's Eve and Day, but we still entertained ourselves quite well. We spent New Year's Eve watching Indian movies (my perfect vacation!) while Saima and Sajid plotted to arrange my marriage to a nice vegetarian Desi who cooks. New Year's morning, I took it upon myself to get Safan to smile. After a few tries, it worked! Then we visited an old plantation. I have to admit, it was a little creepy driving past the tiny cotton field and slave quarters beside the house. On our way home, I asked them to take me to Waffle House - I was suffering from withdrawal as I have yet to find any in California. I had a waffle and eggs and, oooo, grits!

The day I returned to work I was asked to make good on my promise to see the Worker's Comp doctor about my wrist. I was diagnosed with tenosynovitis (the precursor to carpal tunnel), fitted with not one but two wrist braces, and sentenced to "hand therapy" 3x per week for an undetermined length of time. The black wrist brace I named my "ninja claw", and the bone-colored rigid one I dubbed "skeletor". I decorated skeletor with shiny butterfly stickers and that tickled the guys at work. Hand therapy is not so bad, I get paid for my time, the people are nice, and sometimes I can read while doing the hand-o-cycle, swinging a mallet, or any of the other crazy things they have me do. But there's this one anti-inflammatory medicine that absorbs into the skin only under an electric potential. That's right. So five times they've taped two electrodes to my arm and shocked me for twenty minutes. Can you believe it? Absolutely diabolical.

The family drama escalated. It was a freaking nightmare. But it looks like it's getting better now.